Orthodox Churches begin journey toward their grand synod

To call within 2009, at the proposal of the ecumenical patriarch, a series of pan-Orthodox meetings to prepare for the Orthodox grand synod, awaited for centuries, and to prepare to face in a collegial manner the challenges of a world that is increasingly globalized in economic terms, but not in human terms. These are the objectives that Orthodoxy is proposing for itself at the conclusion of the pan-Orthodox meeting in Constantinople, which closed with a concelebration, convened by the ecumenical patriarch get to celebrate the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of the apostle Paul.

The objectives are indicated in an important document signed by all of the leaders and representatives of the Orthodox Churches, according to the canons of the Church itself, on the basis of collegiality. The approved text - drafted in part by metropolitan archbishops Ioannis Ziziulas of Pergamon, Anastasios of Albania, and Kyril of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, and inspired by the introductory address of ecumenical patriarch Bartholomew - is extensive and detailed, summarizing a variety of issues, like the economic and social crisis, the religion-science relationship, the family, among the causes of the evils affecting today's world.
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