24 Ιουνίου 2016

4th PRE-CONCILIAR PAN-ORTHODOX CONFERENCE Chambésy, 6-13 June 2009 THE ORTHODOX DIASPORA DECISION *The following English text is a working translation. An official English translation is forthcoming. The Fourth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference was convened by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, with the consensus of Their Beatitudes the Primates of the Most Holy Orthodox Churches expressed during their Sacred Synaxis at the Phanar in October 2008. The Fourth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference met at the Orthodox Center of Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy, from 6 to 13 June 2009 under the chairmanship of His Eminence Metropolitan John of Pergamon, representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. This conference, to which all of the most holy Orthodox autocephalous Churches were invited and were represented, studied the issue of the canonical organization of the ...

5th PAN-ORTHODOX PRE-CONCILIAR CONFERENCE Chambésy, 10-17 October 2015 AUTONOMY AND THE MEANS BY WHICH IT IS PROCLAIMED DECISION The 5th Pan-Orthodox Pre-Conciliar Conference, upon the completion of its work on the text, Autonomy and the Means by Which it is Proclaimed, already agreed upon and adopted by the Inter-Orthodox Preparatory Committee during its session in Chambésy on December 9-17, 2009, considered the ecclesiological, canonical, and pastoral aspects of the institution of autonomy and sought a unanimous pan-Orthodox position on the matter. The 5th Pan-Orthodox Pre-Conciliar Conference, which grounded its work on the text adopted by the Inter-Orthodox Preparatory Committee, addressed: The concept, nature, and various forms of the institution of autonomy. The prerequisites for a local Church to request autonomy from the autocephalous Church to which ...

SYNAXIS OF ORTHODOX PRIMATES Chambésy, 21-28 January 2016 THE MISSION OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IN TODAY’S WORLD DECISION *The following English text is a working translation. An official English translation is forthcoming. The contribution of the Orthodox Church in realizing peace, justice, freedom, fraternity and love between peoples, and in the removal of racial and other discriminations. The Church of Christ exists in the world, but is not of the world (cf. Jn 17:11, 14-15). The Church, as the sign and image of the Kingdom of God in history, proclaims the good news of a new creation (II Cor 5:17), of new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (II Pt 3:13); news of a world in whichGod will wipe away every tear from people’s eyes; ...

‘Your frequent Salutations will be pleasing to me when you desist from hatred, lying and the theft of other people’s goods. And as long as you oppress the poor, distressing them with high interest rates and onerous taxes, then you’re no different from the pagans and those who killed Christ, even if you do boast about your Baptism. I won’t listen to you, however many canons and hymns you sing to me in a strong and beautiful voice’.

The events surrounding the birth of the Honourable Forerunner are mentioned by Saint Luke the Evangelist in the first chapter of his Gospel. He writes that in the days of Herod the king, there lived in Judea a certain priest called Zechariah. His wife was called Elizabeth and she was a descendant of the Prophet Aaron. They were both close to God and lived in righteousness, fear of God, piety, and sobriety and they observed the divine commandments. For many years, they begged God to bless them with the joy of a child, but, despite their fervent prayers, they had never had one. Zechariah and his barren wife, Elizabeth, had become very elderly and no longer had any hope of having ...