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Fr. Peter Alban Heers, Fr. Anastasios Gotsopoulos
On the one year anniversary of the "Council" of Crete, the following article was published in Greek on the website romfea.gr. The intent of the article was twofold: both to commemorate the anniversary of the gathering and to provide a response to a misleading article written by Evangelos Sotiropoulos, a journalist at the Huffington Post.
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Fr. Peter Alban Heers
In a homily, given at Holy Trinity Seminary, in Jordanville, NY on September 24, 2017, the Sunday before the Elevation of the Holy Cross, Fr. Peter Alban Heers exhorts the faithful to boast in nothing but the Cross of Christ, wherein is found our Christian identity and our regeneration.
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In this new lecture, Fr. Peter offers an insightul and balanced look at June 2016's Council that took place on the island of Crete, in which participated ten of the fifteen Local Orthodox Churches. Fr. Peter's talk covers the long process leading up to the council, the events that occurred during the council, and the documents produced by it. Through his examination of the theology and procedures of the council, Fr. Peter demonstrates that it is not a true representation of the Orthodox Church and its Orthodox faith.
The Life of the Saint, written by his close disciple Paulinus, relays important information on the state of the Church at the time and the way in which the Saint was elected bishop, which is quite relevant to our contemporary situation and very instructive for us vis-a-vis how the Fathers of the Church dealt with heresy.
Dr. Demetrios Tselengidis
The well-known and respected Professor of Dogmatic Theology at the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Demetrios Tselengidis, has issued an important and timely three part analysis of the Cretan Council and the ecclesiological problems and issues surrounding it. The letter was sent to all of the hierarchs of the Church of Greece at the end of August and has been included in a recent publication dedicated to the "Council" of Crete.
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In conclusion, the overwhelming majority of the faithful in Greece were greatly disappointed with the “Cretan Council” and are looking forward to its clear rejection by the hierarchies of the Local Churches which did not attend, first of all which is the venerable Church of Georgia, but also from the Church of Greece's own hierarchy, the pre-council decisions of which were uncanonically set aside by the Archbishop of Greece when he and his retinue accepted the “historical name” of “heterodox churches.”
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Met. Hierotheos Vlachos
"As I stated in the meeting of the Holy and Great Synod, the text doesn’t have a strict ecclesiological basis. The question of what the Church is and who are its members was one of the nearly one hundred issues which had been raised by the Holy and Great Synod, but, over time, fell to the wayside in view of a wider conversation and dialogue, to be decided later. Hence what the Church is and who are its members must first of all be discussed and defined, and only after this can the position of the heterodox be defined."
Patriarch of Georgia Responds to the Patriarch of Constantinople, Reiterating the Reasons for Not Participating in the Council
Protopresbyter Peter Heers, PhD., rector of the Holy Prophet Elias in Petrokerasa, Greece, and author of The Ecclesiological Renovation of Vatican II: An Orthodox Examination of Rome’s Ecumenical Theology Regarding Baptism and the Church, his doctoral dissertation completed at the University of Thessaloniki, recently spoke via video with the faithful gathered at the Apostle Paul Orthodox Christian Bookstore in Toronto, discussing various issues surrounding the present Council on the island of Crete, including the history of its preparation and the preparation of the documents under examination at the Council, as well as the disputes over the documents. Several short Q and A videos are offered below, followed by the entire presentation:
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The Orthodox Church stands just weeks away from the long awaited “Great and Holy Council,” which will convene in Crete on the Feast of Pentecost. This Council is unique in the history of the Church for the length of time it has been under preparation, but also for another first: the degree to which its preparatory meetings, organization and certain of its texts have, under the influence of a council of the heterodox, the Second Vatican Council, diverted from the Orthodox way.
Metropolitan Andrew of Ghori and Ateni
The texts which are being prepared for the Great and Holy Council must stress clearly and without ambiguity that the Orthodox Church is the unique One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church in which there is Apostolic Succession, true Baptism, the Divine Eucharist and the other Holy Mysteries of the Christian Faith.
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There is no basis, and it is once again misleading and a departure from the Orthodox phronema, to speak of recognition of the “reality” and “validity” of heretical baptism. If there is talk of “recognition” of the ministrations of heretics it is only in the sense of it being validly, i.e. properly, carried out in the apostolic manner. This is for the purpose of determining the possibility—not the necessity—of reception by oikonomia, as is clear in St. Basil’s 1st and 47th canons.
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"Neither now nor for the past 30+ years has the issue of communion been at stake and, in fact, it is currently irrelevant. Even if we never enter into communion with any heterodox it is still possible for a heretical ecclesiology to be adopted."
The Orthodox Church’s understanding of heterodox baptism flows from and is determined by its self-understanding of being the “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church,” which alone performs the one baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ. This is so, for the Church is known in her mysteries. In and through the mysteries the Church exists and is continually formed, her borders are set, her members identified. “Those who live their lives outside the mysterial (sacramental) life are outside the body of Christ.”
