Homily of the President, H.E. Metropolitan Meliton of Chalcedon at the Closing Liturgy

Delivered at the closing of the Pan-Orthodox Pre-Conciliar Conference on 12 September 1982, this homily by Metropolitan Meliton of Chalcedon constitutes an ecclesiological and pastoral document of importance. Taking the form of a liturgical address to the faithful people, it articulates two complementary axes. The first is an explicit episcopal self-criticism: Meliton acknowledges that the Orthodox Church has baptized its faithful without providing them with catechetical formation, subsequently leaving them to their own devices, and asks forgiveness on behalf of the episcopate. He denounces an ecclesial "neo-medievalism" incapable of responding to the demands of the contemporary world. The second axis is theological: drawing on John 3:17, he recalls that Christ's first coming was a coming of salvation and not of judgment, criticizing a condemnatory ecclesial posture. The contribution of this text lies in its value as a testimony to the pastoral awakening within Orthodoxy during the 1980s.