Erwartungen und Anfragen an die Heilige und Große Synode der Orthodoxen Kirche

A crucial event for the Orthodox Church will be the Pan-Orthodox Council in 2016 which has been in preparation for already several decades. The article critically analyzes the different expectations placed on this Council in Christian ecumenical circles and within the Orthodox Church itself. The author examines the proposed list of topics of the Council along with the corresponding texts and poses open questions. One of these questions concerns whether the Council lacks a process of preparation by the Church as a whole. The author argues not just in favour of a stronger involvement of theologians and faithful in the pre-onciliar process and a longer synodal process of dialogue but also for the elaboration of an authoritative document on the ecclesiological and ecumenical standpoint of the Orthodox Church as well as of a fundamental paper concerning social ethics as desirable outcomes of the Council.