The Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches and their delegations participate in the opening session of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church at the Orthodox Academy of Crete. PHOTO: © POLISH ORTHODOX CHURCH/JAROSLAW CHARKIEWICZ.
Source: Press Office of the Holy and Great Council
CRETE—On the second day of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, the Divine Liturgy was held at the Sacred Patriarchal and Stavropegial Monastery of Gonia, with His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem presiding from the throne. Afterward, the Hierarchs continued their work in the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sessions of the Council.
The Third Session of the Council continued the discussion on The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s World, while the Fourth and Fifth Sessions focused on The Orthodox Diaspora. Following extensive discussion, various suggestions and clarifications were proposed by the Primates and individual Hierarchs of the local Orthodox Autocephalous Churches.
In the afternoon, His Eminence Archbishop Job of Telmesos delivered an official news update on behalf of the Holy and Great Council. After the comments made by Archbishop Job, official spokespersons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, the Church of Romania, and the Church of Cyprus gave a common press briefing, answering questions from the press.
To view a recording of today’s press briefing visit https://www.holycouncil.org/video. Visit https://www.holycouncil.org/live each day at 3:30 pm local Crete (UTC +3) to view a live news briefing.
The Council continues meeting through June 25, concluding with the Divine Liturgy on June 26.
As they become available, photos for use without modification or alteration are available at https://www.orthodoxcouncil.org/photos. All texts and homilies related to the Holy and Great Council are available athttps://media.holycouncil.org/texts.
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Question
What are the autocephalous Orthodox Churches in the world today?
Answer
The autocephalous Orthodox Churches today are the old imperial patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem; the Churches of Russia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Cyprus, Poland and Czechoslovakia; the ancient Church of Georgia (Iberia), and the new Orthodox Church in America.