The Byzantine Universal (Catholic) Patriarchate (BCP), which is the voice of the one crying in the wilderness, hereby appeals to the leaders of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church to condemn the heretical Council in Crete. May the 29 November 2016 declaration of the Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church be an example to them. The Bulgarian Synod unequivocally declares that the Council in Crete was neither Great, nor Holy, nor Pan-Orthodox. Furthermore, the Bulgarian Synod emphasizes that the texts adopted by the Council in Crete contain divergences from Orthodox tradition and the dogmatic and canonical tradition of the Church. Thus, they are not binding for an Orthodox Christian.

The BCP hereby appeals to the Moscow Patriarchate to follow the example of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and to issue the same declaration. Otherwise, if it continues to be silent, it makes it manifest that it agrees with the heresies which are implicit in the deliberately ambiguous formulations of the texts of the Council of Crete and are radically contrary to the dogmata and the Holy Tradition. So the Council in Crete is an invalid and heretical Council. To be silent on heresy means to consent to it. Ergo, those who consciously persist in heresy fall under a curse (cf. Gal 1:8-9).