The ANA-MPA news service is reporting that "the new Patriarch of Moscow, Kyrill will be on a formal visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople at Phanar on July 4-6. Patriarch Kyrill and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople will co-officiate in a mass, while the visiting Patriarch is expected to follow the example of his predecessor and visit Aghia Sophia." Here's a good backgrounder on the tensions that have existed between Moscow and Constantinople for years. The report in AsiaNews was a "table setter" for the Pan-Orthodox Synaxis held in October at the Ecumenical Patriarchate. From the article: The dispute between Moscow and Constantinople has been going on for some time: first in Rhodes (Greece) in 2007, when Moscow announced it would not take part in the pan-Orthodox Synod in 2008; then in Ravenna when Moscow’s representatives walked out of a conference because they objected to the presence of the Estonian Orthodox Church which Moscow does not … [Read more...]