September 13, 2016
The final versions of the texts of the Cretan Council are now available online at theolcom.ru, where you can see which hierarchs signed which documents, reports Orthodox Ethos.
Of particular interest is the controversial "Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World" text, which, as is now known, thirty-three of the 162, or twenty percent, hierarchs present declined to sign, including five from the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Notably, seventeen of the twenty-four Serbian hierarchs attending the council withheld their signatures, only seven signing. Given that a primate's signature was said to express the consensus or majority of his Church, it raises the questions of what Patriarch Irenej intended by signing the document, and how it represents the conciliarity which was to be a touchstone of this council.
As the text deals with ecclesiology, that is, the theology of Christ's very Body, it is inseparable from Christology, as all Orthodox theology is a seamless whole. In this light it remains a question how a text could be passed with such a large dissenting minority, or, in other words, how such differences in profession of faith could be tolerated and pass without comment or action.
Readers can find the English version of the text here, and the Greek version here.
For convenience, Orthodox Ethos has listed those who did not sign the text below, in order of their appearance in the text:
From the Ecumenical Patriarchate:
1. Isaiah of Denver
2. Nicholas of Detroit
3. Amphilochios of Adrianopolis
4. Antonios of Hierapolis, Head of the Ukrainian Orthodox in the USA
5. Gregory of Nyssa, Head of the Carpatho-Russian Orthodox in the USA
It is interesting to note that four of the five dissenting hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate serve in America.—O.C.
From the Patriarchate of Alexandria
6. Jonah of Kampala
7. Seraphim of Zimbabwe and Angola
From the Patriarchate of Jerusalem
8. Benedict of Philadelphia
9. Theophylaktos of Jordan
From the Patriarchate of Serbia
10. Amphilochios of Montenegro and the Littoral
11. Porfirije of Zagreb and Ljubljana
12. Vasilije of Sirmium
13. Lucian of Budim
14. Longin of Nova Gracanica
15. Irinej of Backa
16. Hrizostom of Zvornik and Tuzla
17. Justin of Zicha
18. Pahomije of Vranje
19. Jovan of Sumadija
20. Fotije of Dalmatia
21. Hrizostom of Bihac and Petrovac
22. Joanikije of Niksic and Budimlje
23. Milutin of Valjevo
24. David of Krusevac
25. Jovan of Slavonija
26. Ilarion of Timok
From the Church of Cyprus
27. Athanasios of Limassol
28. Neophytos of Morphou
29. Nicholas of Amathus
30. Epiphanios of Ledra
From the Church of Greece
31. Chrysostomos of Peristerion
32. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Aghios Vlasios
33. Anthimos of Alexandroupolis
