In English

(Chania, Crete, June 16, 2016) Your Beatitudes, holy brothers, Primates of the Orthodox Churches, Your Excellency, Minister of Foreign Affairs, The gracious initiative of your Excellency to offer this official dinner in honor of both our Modesty and the brother Primates of the various Holy Orthodox Churches, manifests the honor, love and respect that is fostered by the Orthodox Hellenic Republic and you, personally, for our One and Unified Orthodox Church and the persons comprising Her, who gathered here on the island of Crete to convene this Holy and Great Council. Your Excellency manifests tangibly these sentiments that are familiar to us all by the exercise of your high and responsible office and by everything you have offered to us. We recall, at this ...

5th PAN-ORTHODOX PRE-CONCILIAR CONFERENCE Chambésy, 10-17 October 2015 AUTONOMY AND THE MEANS BY WHICH IT IS PROCLAIMED DECISION The 5th Pan-Orthodox Pre-Conciliar Conference, upon the completion of its work on the text, Autonomy and the Means by Which it is Proclaimed, already agreed upon and adopted by the Inter-Orthodox Preparatory Committee during its session in Chambésy on December 9-17, 2009, considered the ecclesiological, canonical, and pastoral aspects of the institution of autonomy and sought a unanimous pan-Orthodox position on the matter. The 5th Pan-Orthodox Pre-Conciliar Conference, which grounded its work on the text adopted by the Inter-Orthodox Preparatory Committee, addressed: The concept, nature, and various forms of the institution of autonomy. The prerequisites for a local Church to request autonomy from the autocephalous Church to which ...

4th PRE-CONCILIAR PAN-ORTHODOX CONFERENCE Chambésy, 6-13 June 2009 THE ORTHODOX DIASPORA DECISION *The following English text is a working translation. An official English translation is forthcoming. The Fourth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference was convened by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, with the consensus of Their Beatitudes the Primates of the Most Holy Orthodox Churches expressed during their Sacred Synaxis at the Phanar in October 2008. The Fourth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference met at the Orthodox Center of Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy, from 6 to 13 June 2009 under the chairmanship of His Eminence Metropolitan John of Pergamon, representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. This conference, to which all of the most holy Orthodox autocephalous Churches were invited and were represented, studied the issue of the canonical organization of the ...

SYNAXIS OF ORTHODOX PRIMATES Chambésy, 21-28 January 2016 THE MISSION OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IN TODAY’S WORLD DECISION *The following English text is a working translation. An official English translation is forthcoming. The contribution of the Orthodox Church in realizing peace, justice, freedom, fraternity and love between peoples, and in the removal of racial and other discriminations. The Church of Christ exists in the world, but is not of the world (cf. Jn 17:11, 14-15). The Church, as the sign and image of the Kingdom of God in history, proclaims the good news of a new creation (II Cor 5:17), of new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (II Pt 3:13); news of a world in whichGod will wipe away every tear from people’s eyes; ...

‘Your frequent Salutations will be pleasing to me when you desist from hatred, lying and the theft of other people’s goods. And as long as you oppress the poor, distressing them with high interest rates and onerous taxes, then you’re no different from the pagans and those who killed Christ, even if you do boast about your Baptism. I won’t listen to you, however many canons and hymns you sing to me in a strong and beautiful voice’.

The events surrounding the birth of the Honourable Forerunner are mentioned by Saint Luke the Evangelist in the first chapter of his Gospel. He writes that in the days of Herod the king, there lived in Judea a certain priest called Zechariah. His wife was called Elizabeth and she was a descendant of the Prophet Aaron. They were both close to God and lived in righteousness, fear of God, piety, and sobriety and they observed the divine commandments. For many years, they begged God to bless them with the joy of a child, but, despite their fervent prayers, they had never had one. Zechariah and his barren wife, Elizabeth, had become very elderly and no longer had any hope of having ...

  ...We must therefore avoid the sins which are considered minor. Because if, on the one hand we wish to please God, and on the other fall into these ‘lesser’ sins, it’s as if we wish to unite heaven and hell, light and darkness, fire and water, or sanctity and wickedness. However minor these sins appear to be, they bear serious weight, since they’re an affront to our holy God. Because the greatest evil which is addressed to created beings is as nothing compared to any addressed to the Creator. Let’s be ashamed, then, for accepting into our heart, without objection, anything that God doesn’t want. Let’s reject a thousand times the laxity we’ve shown so far in observing His commandments and ...

RESPONSE BY HIS ALL-HOLINESS ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW, CHAIRMAN OF THE HOLY AND GREAT COUNCIL OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH, TO HIS EMINENCE ARCHBISHOP IRENAIOS OF CRETE, PRESIDENT OF THE HOLY EPARCHIAL SYNOD OF THE CHURCH OF CRETE, ON THE OCCASION OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH AND THEIR BEATITUDES THE PRIMATES OF THE ORTHODOX AUTOCEPHALOUS CHURCHES AND THE DOXOLOGY AT THE HOLY CATHEDRAL OF THE HOLY APOSTLE TITUS (Heraklion, June 18, 2016) Your Eminence, beloved brother in Christ, Archbishop Irenaios of Crete and beloved brothers Eminences and Graces, members of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Church of Crete, beloved eparchy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Your Excellency the Regional Governor, Most honorable Mayor of Heraklion, and representatives of local and regional authorities, Beloved and heroic Orthodox flock of Crete, Truly, all of us, the brother Primates ...

«Love for Christ knows no bounds, neither does love for your neighbour. Let it extend everywhere, to the ends of the earth. Everywhere, to all people. I’d like to go and live with the hippies in Matala, without sinning, of course, to show them the love of Christ. How great it is and how it could change them, transform them. Love is above all things. Let me give you an example. There was an ascetic and he had two disciples. He tried very hard to benefit them and make them good. But he was worried as to whether they were, in fact, making any progress in the spiritual life and whether they were ready for the Kingdom of God. He waited ...

HOMILY BY HIS ALL-HOLINESS ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW CHAIRMAN OF THE HOLY AND GREAT COUNCIL OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH AT THE CONCELEBRATION OF THE DIVINE LITURGY IN THE METROPOLITAN CHURCH OF ST. MINAS IN HERAKLION, CRETE WITH THEIR BEATITUDES THE PRIMATES OF THE HOLY ORTHODOX CHURCHES (Sunday of Pentecost, June 19, 2016) Your Beatitudes, Holy Brother Primates of the local Orthodox Churches, Theodoros of Alexandria, John of Antioch, Theophilos of Jerusalem, Kirill of Moscow, Irinej of Belgrade, Daniel of Bucharest, Neophyte of Bulgaria, Ilia of Georgia, Chrysostomos of Cyprus, Ieronymos of Athens, Sawa of Warsaw, Anastasios of Tirana, and Rastislav of Prešov, together with Your honorable delegations, Your Excellency Mr. President of the Hellenic Republic, Your Eminence Archbishop Irenaios of Crete, together with the Most Reverend and beloved brothers who, together with you, comprise the ...

Besides, humble people are like nightingales: they hide away in leafy hollows and spread joy to people’s souls with their mellifluous singing, giving praise day and night to the Creator of the world. Proud people, on the other hand, are like clucking hens that deafen you with their cackling, as if their egg were as big as the planet.