A synod of the Melkite Church has been postponed as half the church’s bishops tried to force the resignation of their patriarch.
Ten Melkite bishops boycotted the synod meeting, in trying to get Patriarch Gregory III Laham to go.
“I shall not resign,” Patriarch Gregory declared, denouncing the boycott.
Without the 10 bishops, the synod in Lebanon had to be postponed as it lacked a quorum.
A Lebanese archbishop and his allies had written to the Vatican Congregation for the Eastern Churches, urging the removal of Patriarch Gregory.
But the Vatican replied that the matter should be handled by the Melkite hierarchy, acting in synod.