Pan-Orthodox Council

The Holy Synod released a pertinent statement on the issue

The Ecumenical Patriarchate has begun preparations to grant independence to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine from Russia, it said Friday.

In a statement, the patriarchate named two representatives who will be dispatched to discuss the process of autocephaly of Kiev from Moscow.

After an extraordinary meeting on Monday, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople called on all autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches, including the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, to participate in the Pan-Orthodox Council which is scheduled to take place in Crete from June 16 to 26.

A historical meeting bringing together representatives of 300 million Orthodox Christians, which had been due to be held in Istanbul this year after centuries away, has been shifted to the Greek island of Crete. The move came after the RussianOrthodox Church indicated that it did not want to come to Turkey due to the crisis between the two countries over the downing of a Russian jet that violat