Ecumenical Patriarchate

Kolymvari, Crete, Greece
24 June 2016

Ecumenical Patriarchate Press Release

On the fifth day of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated by His Grace Bishop George of Siemiatycze of the Church of Poland at the Sacred Patriarchal and Stavropegial Monastery of Gonia. Afterward, the Hierarchs continued their work in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth sessions of the Council.

The day’s sessions focused primarily on Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World. His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew encouraged an open and honest dialogue among the Hierarchs, and during the fourteenth session the Hierarchs reviewed proposed changes to the final text submitted by the Primates and individual Hierarchs of the local Orthodox Autocephalous Churches. Discussion on this text will resume tomorrow morning.

The Hierarchs concluded their work for the day after reviewing a revised draft of the Encyclical of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church.

In the afternoon, His Eminence Archbishop Job of Telmessos 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 Serbia, the Church of Romania, the Church of Cyprus, and the Church of Greece gave a common press briefing, answering questions from the press.

The final session of the Holy and Great Council will be live-streamed on Saturday, June 25, beginning at 17:00 GMT+3 (10 a.m. EDT). Orthros and Divine Liturgy, which officially closes the Council, will be livestreamed on Sunday, June 26, beginning at 8:00 GMT+3 (1 a.m. EDT). Both events can be seen at https://www.holycouncil.org/live.

To view recordings of the press briefings, visit https://www.holycouncil.org/video.
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 at https://media.holycouncil.org/texts.