Orthodox leaders smooth path to proposed summit meeting

Moscow, September 2 (ENInews)--The patriarchs of three ancient Orthodox
Christian churches met from 1-2 September in Istanbul to discuss the
situation of Christian minorities in the Middle East, and perhaps an even more
prickly topic -- the move toward a historic pan-Orthodox council -- removing
major stumbling blocks to what would be the first such gathering in centuries. 

The pan-Orthodox council is regarded with great interest by the world's
Orthodox churches, many of which are in unstable regions following
revolutions in the Middle East, or in countries facing a third decade of economic and
social transition following the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union
and Eastern Europe.

"The patriarchs, and of course the Archbishop of Cyprus, they all
expressed the readiness to proceed to the pan-Orthodox council that is forthcoming,
and they said to me that they support the initiative of the Ecumenical
Patriarch to this direction," said Metropolitan Elpidophoros of Proussa,
former chief secretary of the Synodical Office of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,
also known as the Patriarchate of Constantinople.