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Metropolitan Athanasius of Limassol: My conscience would not allow me to sign

Athens, July 2, 2016

Metropolitan Athanasius of Limassol has officially confirmed that during the time of the meeting on Crete he did not sign the document adopted by it: “Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World.” It was precisely this document that caused the most acute controversy both before and during the Council.

“As there arose a misunderstanding in informing believing Christians that I didn’t sign the document ‘Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World’ of the Holy and Great Council,” writes Vladyka Athanasius, “I wish to notify all those interested, that my conscience would not allow me to sign. I didn’t sign because I don’t agree with the text of the document in its finalized form.”

Metropolitan Athanasius also published the text of his address to the Holy and Great Council concerning the document, which is available on the Greek portal Romfea.

Translated by Jesse Dominick

7/2/2016

See also

Why I did not sign the text “Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World”

Why I did not sign the text “Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World”
Met. Hierotheos Vlachos

Why I did not sign the text “Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World”

Why I did not sign the text “Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World”
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."

UPDATED: Seven Metropolitans withheld signatures from Pan-Orthodox Council documents

UPDATED: Seven Metropolitans withheld signatures from Pan-Orthodox Council documents

UPDATED: Seven Metropolitans withheld signatures from Pan-Orthodox Council documents

UPDATED: Seven Metropolitans withheld signatures from Pan-Orthodox Council documents
While the names of all delegate bishops from each of the ten represented Local Churches were added to each document by the Secretariat of the Holy and Great Council, there were those who abstained from signing the documents “The Sacrament of Marriage and its Impediments” and “Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World.”

Metropolitan of Limassol:

Metropolitan of Limassol: "What unity are we talking about? Those who departed from the Church are heretics and schismatics"

Metropolitan of Limassol:

Metropolitan of Limassol: "What unity are we talking about? Those who departed from the Church are heretics and schismatics"
There are no churches or confessions. Rather, these have cut themselves off from the Church and must be considered heretics and schismatics, notes His Eminence, expressing confusion as to why such an important issue has been ignored.

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