Presentation – Analysis: Archpriest of the Ecumenical Throne PANAGIOTIS KAPODISTRIAS
February 2026, at the Vilnius City Hall and the Chodkevičiai Palace in Lithuania. During the international conference “Constantinople and Moscow: Transformations of Ecclesiastical Allegiance and the Impact of Imperial Policy,” His Eminence Elder Metropolitan of Chalcedon Emmanuel delivered a weighty address entitled “The Ecclesiastical and Canonical Meaning of Jurisdictional Changes.” This discourse assumed the character of a theological reflection on the nature of ecclesiastical authority, on the significance of canonical transformations, and above all on the place of the human person within the historical conflicts of Orthodoxy.
The noteworthy intervention of Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon transfers the discussion concerning jurisdictions from the level of administrative analysis to the depth of ecclesiological experience. At the center stands the faithful person, who seeks a spiritual homeland, ecclesiastical continuity, and a relationship of pastoral trust. Jurisdiction is presented as a reality of dual nature, canonical and existential, with a direct impact upon the daily life of communities.
The Elder Metropolitan of Chalcedon connects the place of the address with the content of his discourse. Vilnius appears as a city of historical density, a place of changing borders and struggles for freedom. Within this historical environment, the discussion concerning ecclesiastical boundaries acquires human gravity. Ecclesiastical history is presented as living memory that continues to influence peoples and consciences.
Particular emphasis is given by Metropolitan Emmanuel to the ecclesiastical experience of Ukraine. Historical schisms are approached as wounds that shape the spiritual life of communities and influence the sense of ecclesiastical identity. Synodal decisions acquire an existential dimension, since they affect relationships, memory, and liturgical continuity.
In his address, the experienced Metropolitan highlights the importance of the Byzantine heritage for understanding contemporary ecclesiastical developments. The historical conjunction of Church and state formed a mode of thought in which administrative and theological elements became closely interconnected. Reference to the canons of the Ecumenical Councils, and especially to Canon 28 of the Fourth Ecumenical Council, is situated within this understanding of canonical continuity.
According to Metropolitan Emmanuel, canonical order bears a therapeutic character. The sacred canons function as pastoral guidance that serves the unity and salvation of the ecclesiastical body. The canonical tradition is presented as spiritual medicine, oriented toward the life of the community and the journey toward the Kingdom of God.
A central theological concept of the address is oikonomia. The Elder Metropolitan presents oikonomia as an expression of the Church’s philanthropy and as the wise application of the canons with healing and unity as guiding criteria. This patristic principle is presented as a living tradition calling for discernment, responsibility, and pastoral sensitivity.
Particularly powerful in his discourse remains the image of the basin of the Mystical Supper. Christ, washing the feet of the disciples, reveals the essence of ecclesiastical authority as service. Metropolitan Emmanuel employs this image as a fundamental ecclesiological symbol through which every form of primacy and administrative responsibility is interpreted.
The pastoral relationship between shepherd and flock is presented as the center of ecclesiastical life. Personal knowledge, trust, and shared memory constitute the experience of the parish. Jurisdictional changes affect this relationship and require listening to the people of God and the active participation of the ecclesiastical body in synodal life.
Within the same discourse, Eucharistic ecclesiology emerges as the deeper criterion of unity. The Church is constituted around the Divine Eucharist, where every human distinction is transformed into communion of persons. The Eucharistic assembly appears as an experience of catholicity and fraternity, the foundation of ecclesiastical self-consciousness.
His Eminence Emmanuel also refers to youth, underlining the need for a living pastoral presence. Young people seek community, meaning, and authentic spiritual experience. The ecclesiastical witness is called to express a word of hope and companionship within the contemporary world.
The address culminates in reference to repentance as an ecclesiastical stance of historical responsibility. Repentance is presented as an opening toward healing and reconciliation, as an act that allows the Church to advance through time with hope. Christian hope, as emphasized in Vilnius by Metropolitan Emmanuel, is founded upon the certainty of Christ’s presence within history.
Through this perspective, the question of jurisdictions acquires deeper meaning. Institutions and canons function as supports of ecclesiastical life, while the essential content of the Church emerges from relationship, service, and Eucharistic communion. The address presented above by the Elder Metropolitan of Chalcedon in Lithuania thus offers a theological invitation to return to the heart of ecclesiastical experience: to the unity born of love and to the healing offered by the living presence of Christ, “the same yesterday and today and forever.”
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