“Unity is an objective, not a given,” says the Rev. John Chryssavgis, an archdeacon and theological adviser to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. “It may be there spiritually and liturgically and sacramentally, but to make it visible is hard, painful, slow work, and it takes time.” In a sense, the “Great and Holy Council of the Orthodox Church”, conceived as a gathering of all the heads of the 14 independent Orthodox churches around the world in Crete June 16-27, has been at least a millennium in the making. More proximately, planning has been underway since 1961, meaning more than a half-century. […]

In the opening of the works of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of Romania, referred to the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church that will convene in Crete this June. His Beatitude urged all faithful, clergy, monastics and lay people to pray, in a universal (Synodal) spirit, for the good development of the Holy and Great Council. The Patriarch of Romania offered an answer to those who argue against the participation of a limited number of persons in the Holy and Great Council, saying that “Not everyone can participate, but everyone has the […]

Bulgarian portal kultura.bg has published today the first part of the article “On anti-Council Decision of the Holy Synod” by Kalin Yanakiev concerning scandalous decision of the Bulgarian Synod to withdraw from Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church planned at Crete 18-26 June 2016. Kalin Yanakiev thinks the decision was imposed by Moscow. But in this article he does not analyse the “Russian link”. He wants to show how wrong the arguments are. Most of the points proposed for consideration were formulated 40 years ago (1976). These topics were discussed in 1982, 1986, 2009. Had the Bulgarian Synod reacted in anyway […]