Russian Orthodox Church to hold emergency meeting of its Holy Synod

The Russian Orthodox Church will hold an emergency meeting of its Holy Synod to determine how to proceed in the situation where a number of Local Orthodox Churches have refused to participate in the Pan-Orthodox Council on Crete, and to decide about its own participation in it, the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk told RIA-Novosti on Tuesday.

The Synod of the Antiochian Orthodox Church published on Tuesday its decision refusing to participate in the Pan-Orthodox Council. Such a decision was also made last week by the Bulgarian Church.

The Russian Orthodox Church has called upon the Local Churches to summon an emergency pre-conciliar meeting in connection with this “extraordinary situation” which has arisen in the course of the preparations for the Council. In its turn, the Patriarchate of Constantinople announced that “no institutional structure can re-examine the conciliar process already begun.”