“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. […]

Several oldest bishops were included to represent the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the Council, to mention the – Archbishop Demetrios (Trakatellis) of America of 88 years old; two Metropolitans are 85 – John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon and Isaiah (Chronopoulos) of Denver. The youngest participant of the delegation is – Archbiship Job (Getcha) of Telmessos being 42. The average age of the delegation is 68, while the same indicator of the Moscow Patriarchate delegation is 61.

The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate gathered today for exceptional meeting under the chairmanship of His All-Holiness, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, concerning convening with the God’s grace of already imminent the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church. The Holy Synod, with surprise and aporia was informed about the latest expressed positions and opinions of some of the Orthodox Sister Churches, and having evaluated them, came to the conclusion that there is no institutional framework that requires the reconsideration of the already in place conciliar procedure. Thus, it is expected, that the Primates of the Holy Orthodox Churches, in accordance with the Organization and Working Procedure […]

Today, 6 June 2016 at its extraordinary meeting The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate has decided, that the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church to take place 19-26 June at Crete according to the previous plan. The message was published at the official web-site of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In particularly, the Holy Synod notes that recent statements from some of the Local Churches are surprising, while art. 11 of the Organization and Working Procedure of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church provides procedure of ammendements to the document of the Council. The Ecumenical Patriarchate recognizes itself as a primary responsible […]