RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH CALLS BOYCOTTED CRETE COUNCIL ‘AN IMPORTANT EVENT’

By Tom Heneghan, Religion News Service

The Russian Orthodox Church, whose boycott of a major summit of Orthodox Christian leaders in Crete last month threatened to slow down efforts to promote greater unity, has declared the meeting “an important event in the history of the conciliar process.”

TABLET INTERVIEW WITH ELIZABETH PRODROMOU: ONE OF A 'THIMBLEFUL OF WOMEN' AT THE ORTHODOX COUNCIL SPEAKS TO TOM HENEGHAN

 05 July 2016 | by Tom Heneghan |

The US political scientist was probably the most unlikely Council participant

ORTHODOX COUNCIL OPENS WITH PRIMATES CALLING FOR MORE PERMANENT CONSULTATION

 20 June 2016 | by Tom Heneghan, The Tablet

Two absent churches failed to reply to last-minute invitations from council

The long-awaited Holy and Great Council of Eastern Orthodoxy, the first in over 1,200 years, began a week of deliberations in Crete on Monday with many participants saying such meetings should become a regular institution in future.

ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH STRESSES UNITY AHEAD OF WEEK-LONG ORTHODOX COUNCIL

 19 June 2016 | by om Heneghan|The Tablet

The spiritual head of Eastern Orthodoxy began his sermon with greetings to the other Orthodox leaders, some of whom are deliberately absent