Holy Synod

The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece will convene an emergency meeting on Monday to decide upon measures it will adopt to fight the spread of the coronavirus.

Among the measures to be discussed will be the suspension of services. However, churches are expected to remain open, contrary to the situation in other countries.

Bulgaria's Minister of Culture Boil Banov announced on Monday afternoon that an exhibition of Bulgarian religious artefacts that were to be displayed at the Louvre Museum in Paris has been cancelled.

Greek Archbishop Ieronymos informed the Holy Synod on Friday that he has refused an invitation from Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem to attend a meeting of Orthodox leaders.
According to a statement issued by the Holy Synod, Ieronymos refused the invite because the calling of such meetings of Orthodox leaders is the sole privilege of the ecumenical patriarch based in Istanbul.

The Ukrainian Church is independent of the religious administration of Moscow.
In a statement after the meeting in the Moscow Patriarchate, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church stated that it could not, from now on, mention the name of Patriarch Theodore II in his prayers and participate in common prayers.

The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece has recognized the autonomy of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, in line with a request by the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios, Kathimerini learned on Saturday.

The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece has adopted an initiative by an anti-abortion group to dedicate one day of the year to the "unborn child," local media are reporting on Thursday.

The new Archbishop of America, Elpidophoros, was elected unanimously by the members of the Ecumenical Patriarchate's Holy Synod, according to a press release from the Phanar on Saturday.

The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece has expressed its concerns to Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios over the request he received from the small local Rainbow Party to grant his approval for the divine liturgy to be conducted in the "Macedonian language" to cater for speakers of the Southern Slavic spoken in North Macedonia.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece said it was open to the continuation of dialogue with the state but stressed that it will not accept any changes to the salary status of clerics.

The outlook for a tentative agreement between Archbishop Ieronymos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to loosen close ties between the Greek Church and the state appeared unclear on Wednesday after a church committee decided to halt discussions.