Of His Eminence Metropolitan Ignatius of Demetrias and Almyros

22/5/2016

A great and historical ecclesiastical event is going to take place this year in our country. It is the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church, which is underway in Crete from 18^th to 27^th of June 2016. The Synod will officially start with the pan-Orthodox Divine Liturgy, serviced in the Metropolitan Church of St Minas in Heraklion, on Sunday of the Pentecost, June 19, and its works will be held in the Orthodox Academy of Crete, in Kolymbari, Hania.

This Synod is a fruit of many decades' vision, after a long procedure of preparations, which officially started in 1961. The final decision for this Synod was taken by the two assemblies of all the primates of the Holy Orthodox Churches, convened in March 2014 in Constantinople and in January 2016 in Geneva.

This Great and Holy Synod will be chaired by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and it will be attended by orthodox bishops from all the Orthodox Churches around the world. Now, in the Orthodox Church there are 14 Patriarchates and Autocephalous Churches, which will be represented by their Archbishops and 24 bishops each. Indeed, this event is historical, since it is the first time that the Orthodox Church, in its present form, is to convene as a whole, at an international level.

The primary purpose of this pan-Orthodox Synod is to consolidate the unity of the Orthodox Church, which can be established through the common Orthodox Faith and the Holy Sacraments (especially that of the Holy Communion). In this way, through the Synod, it will be indicated that the Orthodox Church is not the aggregation of many National Churches, but it is the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church.

The issues to be discussed are the following: 1) The mission of the Orthodox Church in the contemporary world.2)The ecclesiastical organization of the so-called "orthodox diaspora", that is of the orthodox communities in the Western Europe, in America and in Australia, 3)Autonomy and its manner of proclamation 4)The Sacrament of marriage and its impediments 5)The significance of fasting and its application today and 6) The relations of the Orthodox Church with the rest of the Christian world.

These issues, which had already been determined when the convocation of the Synod was decided, prepared by Inter- Orthodox Committees and Conferences, may not seem important at first. However, these are important issues required to be settled, so that the Orthodox Church with one heart and one voice can express its opinion about other issues about itself and the modern man. The Synod will have the opportunity to address all the people, not only the faithful but also every person of good will, through its final and official message. Now that humanity is faced with division and conflicts, the Orthodox Church will send a message of hope and reconciliation.

Lastly, it is worth pointing out that the Holy and Great Synod, apart from the decisions it will take, is really important. It will be a great experience, and will seal the future of the Orthodox Church and its presence in the world.