Orthodox Council moves to Crete

Eastern Orthodox patriarchs preparing their Churches’ first major council in 1,200 years have switched its venue from Istanbul to Crete following objections by the large Russian Orthodox Church after Turkey shot down a Russian air force jet Ankara said entered its airspace from Syria.

The decision allowed plans for the Holy and Great Council, or Pan-Orthodox Council, to go ahead as planned in June. But it robbed Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of the privilege of holding it in the historic Hagia Irene, the Istanbul church – now a museum – where the Council of Constantinople confirmed the Nicene Creed in AD 381.

Some Russian church officials asked if the Council could even go ahead, a view Bartholomew firmly rejected in his opening address to the preparatory meeting outside Geneva on 22-27 January that decided the venue switch. “Every further postponement in realising the Council will only satisfy the enemies of our Church and the Enemy that rejoices in evil,” he said.

The debate over the venue was the latest of several differences over the Council between the tiny Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul and the large Russian Church, which now accounts for about two thirds of the 300 million Orthodox around the world.

The 14 autocephalous, or independent, Orthodox Churches have considered holding the summit since the Second Vatican Council helped adapt the Catholic Church more to the modern era.

The Orthodox, whose jurisdiction was traditionally defined within geographical boundaries, need to redefine authority in a world where migration means large western cities can have five or more Orthodox bishops overseeing different congregations.

They also hope to define their approach to ecumenical cooperation, an aim Bartholomew wants to promote but about which Moscow’s Patriarch Kirill seems less enthusiastic. The Russian Church head said efforts for a common calendar for feasts such as Easter “is not at all relevant”.

Moscow has ensured a veto for itself over Council decisions by imposing consensus voting rather than the majority rule that Bartholomew wanted.