Archbishop Anastasios of Albania proposes indirectly, if not clearly, that a Pan-Orthodox Synod should be convened at the initiative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to restore unity among the Orthodox Churches following the granting of autocephaly to the Church in Ukraine.
Just three days after the decision of the Patriarch of Jerusalem to convene an assembly of the primates of the Orthodox Churches in Jordan, the Archbishop of Albania, in his public letter, argues that the assembly should be convened by the Ecumenical Patriarch.
In his letter, Archbishop Anastasios says that a new situation in the Orthodox world has been created after the decision to grant autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine, in which he argues that there were geopolitical expediencies. He argues that this situation can only be changed by applying the basic principle of synodality as “it is the only way out of the current crisis,” adding that “as long as a Pan-Orthodox Synod is postponed, the multilateral divisions in Orthodox world will become even more dangerous.”
The Archbishop of Albania points out that there is a silence of particular concern from most Orthodox Churches on the Ukrainian autocephaly issue, and that the political pressures hurt the prestige of Orthodoxy.
Fearing a division on ethnophyletic grounds, even a schism, Archbishop Anastasios considers that there is an urgent need to overcome this polarization. Thus, he proposes that the Ecumenical Patriarchate should take the initiative “to remedy the new situation,” while all the Autocephalous Churches take their share of responsibility, since, as he puts it, “all the Orthodox have the responsibility to contribute to reconciliation.”
