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.
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.