Communiqué of the Pan-Orthodox Secretariat of the Holy and Great Council

The Pan-Orthodox Secretariat of the Holy and Great Council, established at the Holy Synaxis of Primates of Autocephalous Orthodox Churches (Chambésy, 21-28 January 2016), conducted its first meeting at the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate (Chambésy-Geneva) from 29 to 30 March. The works have been carried out under the chairmanship of His Eminence Metropolitan Jeremiah of Switzerland, coordinator of the Pan-Orthodox Secretariat. At the meeting of the Secretariat participated the members assigned by the Holy Orthodox Churches and its works had as priority taking decisions for an effective approach to organizational and procedural issues. The representatives of the Orthodox Churches who participated are the following, according to the order of the Diptychs:

  • Director of the Pan-Orthodox Secretariat: His Eminence Metropolitan Jeremiah of Switzerland
  • Ecumenical Patriarchate: His Eminence Archbishop Job of Telmissos
  • Patriarchate of Alexandria: His Eminence Metropolitan Alexandros of Nigeria
  • Patriarchate of Antioch: His Eminence Metropolitan Silouan of Buenos Aires
  • Patriarchate of Jerusalem: Prof. Dr. Theodoros Yangou
  • Patriarchate of Moscow: Rev. Archpriest Nikolai Balashov
  • Patriarchate of Serbia: His Grace Bishop Irinej of Bačka
  • Patriarchate of Romania: His Eminence Metropolitan Nifon, Archbishop of Târgovişte
  • Patriarchate of Bulgaria: His Eminence Metropolitan John of Varna
  • Patriarchate of Georgia: His Eminence Metropolitan Andrew of Gori and Aténi
  • Church of Cyprus: His Eminence Metropolitan Vassileios of Constantia and Ammochostos
  • Church of Greece: His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Messinia
  • Church of Poland: His Grace Bishop Jerzy of Siemiatycze
  • Church of Albania: His Eminence Metropolitan John of Korça
  • Church of Czech Lands and Slovakia: His Eminence Archbishop Michal of Prague

During the works of the Pan-Orthodox Secretariat, all the organizational aspects concerning the appropriate secretarial support for the works of the Holy and Great Council have been discussed, and the following decisions have been made:

  1. The establishment of a Committee for the setting-up, functioning and administration of the website of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, having as headquarters the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy-Geneva.
  2. The establishment of six special Committees of the Pan-Orthodox Secretariat for the secretarial support of the works of the Holy and Great Synod, as follows:
  • The Committee for the support of the secretarial works of the Council in plenary session or within Synodal Commissions;
  • The Committee on the amendments made by the plenum of the Council;
  • The Committee on adding the ratified amendments of the texts in the official languages of the Council , as well as on the signing of the final texts;
  • The Committee on providing a good functioning of the simultaneous interpretation system in the official languages;
  • The Committee on the accreditation of the journalists or correspondents and on the direct communication with the mass-media;
  • The Committee on the publication of the minutes and decisions of the Council in its official languages.
  1. The appointment of the members of the local Autocephalous Churches of the special Committees of the Pan-Orthodox Secretariat as soon as possible, and that they must transmit the names of the proposed advisers of their delegations, as well as the names of the proposed journalists and correspondents in order to receive the accreditation of the Secretariat for the Council and, if possible, the names of the proposed auxiliary staff (stewards).

At the completion of the works, the draft program of the works of the Holy and Great Council prepared by the Ecumenical Patriarchate was read out and the details regarding the functioning of the Committees of the Pan-Orthodox Secretariat were emphasized.

Chambésy

30 March 2016

Pan-Orthodox Secretariat of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church

Here you can find the text of the Communiqué in Greek and French 

Facebook comments


Latest News