Great and Holy Council - AOI Observer

Phanar bishop in Europe says Pan-Orthodox Council likely in 2012 or 2013

May 14, 2010 9:40 AM

Austrian Times Vienna Greek-Orthodox archbishop to visit Moscow Vienna Greek-Orthodox Archbishop Michael Staikos, the Church’s Exarch for Central Europe, will visit Moscow on Pentecost, 24 May, it was announced today (Thurs). He will accompany Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomaios I. Staikos has said he is confident that the pan-Orthodox Council, which has been in the planning stages for years, will finally take place in 2012 or 2013. Staikos told Catholic press agency Kathpress that relations between Moscow and Constantinople (Istanbul) have improved significantly since new Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill’s recent visit to Istanbul. Staikos said Bartholomaios’ upcoming visit to Moscow is an attempt to improve intra-Orthodox relations. … [Read more...]

Our Freedom Never Fully Realized

June 8, 2009 1:08 PM

In 1981, the Very Rev. Leonidas C. Contos delivered a lecture titled "2001: The Church in Crisis." Fr. Contos said the title was chosen because the American Orthodox Church had been in a crisis "for a very long time" and he wanted to fix a reference point for speculations on what the Church's situation might look like at some future date. That date has come and gone, but Fr. Contos' reflections are now, just as they were nearly three decades ago, worthy of our consideration. Few have written so honestly and so intelligently about the problems of American Orthodoxy. Fr. Contos questioned the use of the term "diaspora" and said this: For so long as we are conditioned, in our polity and in our cultural life, by the diaspora complex, however subconsciously, we will be inhibited in the fullest realization of our ‘church-hood.’ More importantly, so long as we are perceived from without as a diaspora—a branch, an offshoot, a transplant, an emigration—by the Mother Church (and, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Observer Tagged With: Archbishop Iakovos, diaspora, ecumenical patriarchate, Great and Holy Council, Greek Orthodox, History, holy cross greek orthodox school of theology, Leonidas C. Contos, Orthodox Church, Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute, Politics

On the ‘gradual consolidation of the Orthodox diasporas’

June 7, 2009 9:39 PM

Comments from Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk on the pre-conciliar deliberations at Chambesy, Switzerland, which was to address, in part, "problems in the Orthodox diaspora." In this interview with the Russian news service Interfax, before leaving for the meeting, the archbishop talks about the "many faces" of the Orthodox 'diaspora' and the agenda setting process for a Great Council. The Chambesy meeting, scheduled for June 6-13, is the fourth Pan-Orthodox Pre-Council Conference with the most recent one taking place in 1986, according to the news service. Interfax: The forthcoming Pan-Orthodox Pre-Council Conference in Chambesy will deal with the Orthodox diaspora. What is today’s Orthodox diaspora in your view? Can we speak about even the smallest degree of its integrity or does it represent scattered local communities of the faithful of Local Churches whose ethnic and national ‘dividing walls’ reach as high as heaven? Archbishop Hilarion: The life … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Observer Tagged With: all-Orthodox pre-conciliar consultation, Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chambesy, diaspora, Great and Holy Council, News, Orthodox Church

Holy Cross Faculty Weighs in on ‘Distinctive Prerogatives’ of Ecumenical Patriarch

May 10, 2009 9:22 PM

The Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Mass., released a "Faculty Statement on the Ecumenical Patriarchate" on April 30 and posted it on the school's Web site on May 8. HT: Andrew. Text follows: The Leadership of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Significance of Canon 28 of Chalcedon The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is the preeminent Church in the communion of the fourteen Autocephalous Orthodox Churches. Reflecting the witness of St. Andrew, the First Called Apostle, the enduring mission of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is to proclaim the salutary Gospel of Jesus Christ in accordance with the Apostolic and Orthodox Faith. The Ecumenical Patriarchate has a particular responsibility to strengthen the unity of the Orthodox Churches and to coordinate their common witness. At the same time, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has a specific responsibility to care for the faithful in lands beyond the borders of the other Autocephalous … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Observer Tagged With: Autocephalous Churches, Canon 28, canon law, Ecumenical Councils, Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, ecumenical patriarchate, Great and Holy Council, History, holy cross greek orthodox school of theology, News, Orthodox Church, Orthodox Unity, Patriarch Photios, primacy, Russian Orthodox, Synaxis of Orthodox Primates, Theology, Tome of Autocephaly