On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, Greek cleric Archpriest Theodore Zisis announced that he was ceasing commemoration of his ruling bishop, Metropolitan Anthimos of Thessaloniki, believing that his support of last year’s Pan-Orthodox Council on Crete, which acknowledged the term “church” for other Christian confessions, constitutes a fall into the heresy of ecumenism, which denies that the Orthodox Church is the one, true Church. The next day the metropolitan suspended Fr. Theodore from his priestly duties, reports AgionOros.ru.
Fr. Theodore explained his decision by appealing to Canon 15 of the First-Second Council held in Constantinople in 861, presided over by St. Photios the Great. This canon states that if a bishop clearly preaches a heresy previously condemned by either a council or the holy fathers, then priests are allowed to cease commemorating him in the Liturgy, and are to face no canonical penalties.
The crux of the issue at hand is whether the Crete Council fell into the heresy of ecumenism in its documents, which Fr. Theodore and other prominent clergymen, including Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) believe it did, and whether such a heresy has been previously condemned.