His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has sent a message to the Primates and representative of Local Orthodox Churches who have assembled in the Island of Crete. Below is the full text of the message.

To His Holiness Bartholomew

Archbishop of Constantinople – the New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch

To their Holinesses and Beatitudes the Primates of the Holy Churches of God

To archpastors, pastors, monastics and laity who have assembled on the Island of Crete

Your Holiness Patriarch...

Published on Jun 17, 2016

Question:

Weren't all of the texts prepared for the council well known to everyone, since they have been drafting and preparing them for years, even decades?

June 15th, 2016 - As part of our ongoing weekly homilies, we had the great blessing this week to have Fr. Peter Heers speak to us. Fr. Peter answers many questions about the Pan-Orthodox Council.

In this interview with the Synodal Information-Education Department of the UOC, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine answered questions about why the Russian Orthodox Church is not participating in the Pan-Orthodox Council which should begin its acts on June 19. He also expressed his view on whether the crisis of Council preparations will influence the situation of religious life in Ukraine and worldwide Orthodoxy.

—Your Beatitude, what was the final reason for the decision of the Russian Orthodox Church not to participate in the Council planned for the feast day of the Holy Trinity?

—Today the world is developing in a new format. Political and economic borders are gradually disappearing, which by themselves restricted...

Athonite monasticism has always stood on guard for the purity of Orthodoxy. Athonites have actively participated in the work of Church councils and came out against the unions of Lyons and Florence. Ecumenical contacts have repeatedly come under criticism from Athonites (letters to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, proclamations, reports of the Holy Kinot), however most Athonite monks throughout the whole...

Just got this email from the "Messaging Comittee" for the "Great Council". Two interesting details emerge from this: Serbia will attend and they are completely ignoring the fact that three Local Orthodox Churches will not be in attendance...

Tbilisi, June 12, 2016

The Georgian Orthodox Church has decided not to participate in the Pan-Orthodox Council, because there are certain issues which it finds unacceptable, announced the Georgian Patriarch Ilia II, reports RIA-Novosti.

Earlier the Georgian Orthodox Church made public the ...