The Ecumenical Patriarch was awarded an honorary doctorate by the St. Andrew’s Theological College in Sydney.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who has been on an official visit to Australia since Friday—his first in nearly 30 years—on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Archdiocese of Australia, delivered a speech at the amphitheater of the University of Sydney.
Addressing the students of the Theological School, the clergy, and the professors, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew emphasized that “the Synod is essential and indispensable whenever the unity of the Church is disrupted, whether through the falsification of the truth of the Faith or the questioning of its canonical stability.”
He further remarked that the convocation of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church in Crete gave rise to numerous doubts regarding the ecclesiological principles of synodal conscience and the broader mindset of the Church.
He emphasized that the synodal spirit of the Church is genuinely manifested through two essential and non-negotiable conditions.
First, through the office, or rather the charisma and responsibility, of the First. “The concept of Synodality without the presence of the First, and vice versa, is not only paradoxical but also non-existent,” the Ecumenical Patriarch emphasized, further adding that “the First’s role is not merely honorary, for without the First, there can be no Synod.”
The second condition pertains to the fact that Synodality cannot function outside the framework and boundaries set by the Ecumenical Councils. “Although the Ecumenical Patriarchate has embraced new expressions of synodal self-awareness, such as the Synaxis of the Primates and the equal participation of newly established Churches in the Holy and Great Council, it is crucial to underscore that the institution of the Pentarchy remains fully canonical and inalienable.”
He also mentioned the recent approval of the new Charter of the Archdiocese of Australia, which he praised as “an outstanding text, both canonically and pastorally. It is the result of the dedicated efforts of the Archbishop of Australia, together with a team of professors and experts, and it establishes a Synod of Bishops with the Archbishop of Australia as the First.”
