The Patriarchate of Antioch has received with much distress and astonishment the decision of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, dated Tuesday, March 31st, 2016, calling for the setting up of a committee of representatives from both the Patriarchates of Antioch and Jerusalem, under the coordinating...

The occasion for this article was the result of the session of the Holy Synod of the Greek Church (May 24-25), and the reaction to this event in the Greek media.

According to Metropolitan Hierotheos, contrary to popular opinion, the hierarchs of the Greek Church managed to formulate a single position on the texts of the Pan-Orthodox Council.

“There was extensive discussion and various...

Minutes of the Session of the Holy Synod (25.05.2016)

On May 25 2016, the regular plenary session of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Georgia was held at the Patriarchate of Georgia. The Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II acted as the Chairman of the session.

Metropolitan Shio (Mujiri) of Senaki and Chkhopotsku was appointed Secretary of the session. The...

The governing body of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, the Holy Synod, signalled on June 1 its withdrawal from the Pan-Orthodox Council to be held on Crete from June 16 to 26.

Strictly speaking, the Holy Synod demanded the postponement of the council unless its various demands were met, but given that this is unlikely to happen, the Synod’s decision effectively amounts to withdrawal.

The...

Ὅπως εἶναι γνωστόν πρόσφατα (24 καί 25 Μαΐου) συνῆλθε ἡ Ἱεραρχία τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τῆς Ἑλλάδος καί ἔλαβε ἀποφάσεις σχετικά μέ τά κείμενα τά ὁποῖα θά ὑπογραφοῦν ὕστερα ἀπό ἐνδεχόμενες διορθώσεις καί προσθῆκες ἀπό τήν Ἁγία καί Μεγάλη Σύνοδο τῆς Ὀρθοδόξου Ἐκκλησίας στήν Κρήτη τόν Ἰούνιο τρέχοντος ἔτους.

Οἱ ἀποφάσεις πού ἔλαβε ἡ Ἱεραρχία ἦταν ὁμόφωνες, ἐκτός ἀπό μία περίπτωση πού Ἱεράρχης ζήτησε νά γραφῆ...

Delivered to the Diacideian Institute of the People in Patra, Greece, May 18, 2016.

It is an overused but necessary cliché to state that the Orthodox Church is the Church of the Oecumenical Councils. It is more essential to state that the Orthodox Church not only held and lived through those Councils, it also lives daily by the words spoken by the Holy Apostles in that first of all...

To His Holiness and Beatitude Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Archbishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi, Metropolitan of Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazia, Ilia II, right reverend Bishops—members of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

To Your Holiness, holy Vladykas, today equally together with You we are disquieted...

CHRIST IS RISEN!

With the journey to Pascha having reached its ultimate destination at the glorious Resurrection of the Lord, the Orthodox Church has now embarked on the Pentecostarion period.

Pentecost (the descent of God the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem - Acts 2:1-11) will be celebrated on June 19th. This year’s feast will have added significance because it will mark the commencement of the...

The text sent by the Holy Mountain of Athos to the Patriarch concerning the "Great and Holy Council" has been made public and is now available online at the link below.

The Holy Community, representing the abbots of the Athonite Monasteries, have sent a long epistle to the Patriarch in which they engage in a severe critique of the pre-synodical texts which the Council had been asked to...

The idea of full and partial communion, so central to the new ecclesiology, is inconsistent with this understanding of the organic unity of the Church. Once again, in this regard as well, Vatican II was not a return to the patristic vision of the Church, but rather a further step away from it. As Metropolitan Kallistos Ware has written: “The Bible, the Fathers or the Canons know of only two...