Istanbul, September 1, 2010
The Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholemew announced that the preparation work for the All-Orthodox council is coming to its logical end, reports the website "Amen."
"The Faith is alive, and Orthodoxy is alive. Orthodoxy will live, and there will be a Holy and Great Council, the preparations for which are nearing their end. In the beginning of 2011 the second to last meeting of the preparations commission will probably take place in our Patriarchal center in Geneva, and it will be a big event. Similar events have not taken place since 787; since the eighth century, we have not had a similar Ecumenical Council of this magnitude. And this will be good, with God's grace, for Orthodoxy, and for our relations with other Christian Churches and confessions," reports Sedmitsa.ru.
Patriarch Bartholemew made this announcement at the recent Liturgy that he served on August 15 in the historical Panagia Soumela Monastery in Turkey. In the opinion of the Ecumenical Patriarch, this Liturgy was a triumph of Orthodoxy.
