"Of course, holding the Council which does not involve all of the [Orthodox] churches is, from our point of view, a threat to church unity, and is a certain danger," Archpriest Nikolai Balashov said at a press conference in the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.
The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, also known as the Pan-Orthodox Council, is set to be held on the Greek island of Crete on June 19-26, after more than 50 years of preparations. A number of churches, including the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Georgian Orthodox Church have refused to participate in the council as the procedure and documents of the council have not been worked out properly yet.
According to Balashov, the decision of the Russian Orthodox Church to urge the Patriarchate of Constantinople to postpone the Pan-Orthodox Council was "absolutely inevitable" and the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church "could not have decided otherwise."
He added that the Russian Orthodox Church did not lose hope that the Pan-Orthodox Council would take place despite the current hard situation.
