Council of 2016

A council, often called the Great Council or Great and Holy Council, to gather the primates of all the autocephalous and autonomous Orthodox churches has been called for June 19-26, 2016. The council was originally slated to be held at the Church of Hagia Irene, the site of the Second Ecumenical Council, but due in part to the strained political relations between Russia and Turkey, the venue was changed to the Orthodox Academy of Crete.

History and preparations

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Participants

The 14 Orthodox churches attending the council include:

• Constantinople
• Alexandria
• Antioch
• Jerusalem
• Russia
• Serbia
• Romania
• Bulgaria
• Georgia
• Cyprus
• Greece
• Albania
• Poland
• Czech Lands and Slovakia

Patriarch John of Antioch, Metropolitan Savvas of Warsaw and All Poland, and Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece will not attend the council personally.

Agenda

1. Orthodox Diaspora.
2. Autocephaly and its manner of proclamation.
3. Autonomy and its manner of proclamation.
4. The Diptychs.
5. The matter of a common calendar.
6. Impediments of marriage.
7. Adaptation of Church regulations on fasting.
8. Relations of the Orthodox churches with the rest of the Christian world.
9. Orthodoxy and the Ecumenical Movement.
10. Contribution of the local Orthodox Churches to the prevalence of the Christian ideals of peace, liberty, brotherhood and love among peoples, and the lifting of racial and other discrimination.

The agenda items of the Diptychs, autocephaly, and the common calendar have been removed from the agenda following the pre-conciliar primatial synaxis held in Chambésy, Switzerland, in January 2016.

External links

• On the Great Council of the Orthodox Church by. Archdn. John Chryssavgis, February 3, 2016
• The 33rd Annual Schmemann Lecture (Ancient Faith Radio) by Archdn. John Chryssavgis, including his lecture "Toward the Great and Holy Council: Retrieving a Culture of Conciliarity and Communion"
• Orthodox patriarchs prepare for Great and Holy Council in June in Crete World Council of Churches, February 2, 2016
• The Holy and Great Synod Will Take Place in Crete in June 2016 (Mystagogy) January 24, 2016
• Keynote Address By His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew To the Synaxis of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches (Geneva 22-01-2016)
• Orthodox Academy of Crete