A spokesman for the Patriarchate said the meeting's sole purpose was unity Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I has issued a call for unity
ahead of an historic meeting of the 14 independent Orthodox churches due
to take place later this month on Crete.
The “Holy and Great Council”, presided over by Patriarch Bartholomew,
the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of the world’s 300 million Orthodox
Christians has been called to discuss their common future and efforts
to heal the nearly 1,000-year rift with the Roman Catholics.
All the Orthodox churches, old and new, have never met before – not
since the “great schism” of 1054, when the Orthodox and Roman Catholics
split after disputes over the Vatican’s power.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate said the “Holy and Great Council is a
unique and historical occasion.” Preparations for the meeting have been
underway since 1961, when the planning first began.
Rev John Chryssavgis, spokesman for the Patriarch, told The
Associated Press that the June 19-26 gathering’s “sole purpose is the
affirmation of unity.”
“Unity is a slow and painful process. We don’t have to be united on
every point to convene the council; but we do have to convene the
council if we aspire to unity,” Chryssavgis said.
The Patriarch’s call was issued following reports that the Bulgarian
Orthodox Church, which is due to come to Crete, had threatened to pull
out, reportedly asking for some mostly procedural changes to the agenda.
It did not say what changes it was requesting or if it would carry out
the threat.
Chryssavgis said that “after centuries of isolation, occupation, and
persecution,” it won’t be easy for the churches to come together.
“It is very natural, then, for some Churches to feel unsure or
uncomfortable about coming together after such a long time, much like
members of a family might be skeptical and even mistrustful after a long
period of separation,” he said.
The Orthodox churches are independent of each other and have their
own leadership. For example, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow is head of the
world’s largest Orthodox Church, but is considered equal to other
patriarchs.
Bartholomew is called the “first among equals,” but leads a smaller flock than Kirill.
Since the “great schism” there have been about a dozen smaller
Orthodox councils over the centuries to discuss theological or doctrinal
issues, but there has never been a meeting on the scale of
the forthcoming one.