Orthodox leaders hold historic council

For the first time in 1,200 years, and after 55 years of preparatory conversations, the Holy and Great Council of the Eastern Orthodox churches met—though without representatives of four churches, including the largest. Leaders at the council came to consensus on an encyclical covering issues that all of the Orthodox churches had deemed priorities.

The historic summit of the 14 Orthodox member churches was called by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who is considered first among equals. The gathering aimed to promote unity among the faithful who had become separated by geography, language, and customs and to help the churches speak with harmony on major issues facing them and other faiths.

But the Russian Orthodox Church, which alone accounts for about two-thirds of the 250 million to 300 million Orthodox believers around the world, did not send its leaders to the June 20–26 meeting on the Greek island of Crete after calling for the session to be postponed a week prior to its opening.