The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church has commenced in Crete. Ten of the fourteen Church Primates concelebrated the Divine Liturgy yesterday for the Sunday of Pentecost. The following morning, Monday of the Holy Spirit, a Divine Liturgy — presided over by Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem — was celebrated in a monastery beside the Orthodox Academy of Crete where the Council has been convened. The Divine Liturgy will be celebrated each morning during the Council, concluding with a second Synodal Divine Liturgy for the Sunday of All Saints (June 26th). This sacramental, Eucharist unity is the most important part of Orthodox worship and the glue that binds the fourteen Orthodox autocephalous (self-headed, or administered) churches into the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic ...





















