Extraordinary Session: Patriarch Bartholomew to Switzerland

On 21 June 2020,His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will fly to Geneva, Switzerland for an Extraordinary Session of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.The session will be held at the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambesy, Geneva.It will run from 23-26 June.
The agenda for the first day will be centered on the pastoral needs in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.All the Metropolitans of Europe will attend,in addition to the standing members of the Synod.*
Founded in June 1966, the Orthodox Centre is compromised of the Institute for Postgraduate Studies in Orthodox Theology;
 Library of the Orthodox Centre; the Museum of Christian Art of the Ecumenical Patriarchate; and the Church​ of St.Paul, Apostle to the Nations.*
Head of the Orthodox Centre is His Eminence Metropolitan Maximos of Switzerland.In the words of Patriarch Bartholomew at Metropolitan Maximos' enthronement in 2018, the Orthodox Centre is to be:
a dynamic place of dialogue,congresses, ecumenical meetings and other events in the service of unity, the promotion of Orthodoxy and Orthodox culture, through the emergence of the Centre's Museum.*

Patriarch Bartholomew Hosts Many Balkan Visitors,Making Candid Remarks on Recent Controversies

Between 10-11 April 2018,His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople received a series of visitors from the Balkans.On 10 April arrived the President of Bosnia and Herzegovina,His Excellency Mladen Ivanic.Mr.Ivanic and Patriarch Bartholomew reviewed the issues of the day for about thirty minutes.
This session was followed about an hour later by a private meeting between His All-Holiness and the President of FYROM,the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,Gjeorge Ivanov,along with his wife and son,as well as  some of his colleagues and the FYROM Ambassador to Turkey.As before,many important issues were gone over;while,at the same time,there was an exchange of Paschal greetings and gifts.
At both meetings with the Balkan leaders,Patriarch Bartholomew was joined by His Eminence Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima,a well-known theologian;His Eminence Metropolitan Elpidoforos of Bursa,Turkey;and the Very Rev.Archimandrite Joachim (Billis),Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod.*
On 11 April,His All-Holiness addressed a number of professors and students from the St.Clement of Ohrid Theological Seminary in Skopje,FYROM,who were on a visit to Constantinople and Thessaloniki,Greece.Deploring the Church of Bulgaria's recent effort to grant autocephaly to the Macedonian Orthodox Church,which no other autocephalous Orthodox Church recognises,Patriarch Bartholomew admitted:
I am thinking about this because I want to be perfectly honest with you.This action of the sister Church of Bulgaria was wrong.It does not help.It complicates things.The Mother Church of all the Balkan peoples is Constantinople.That is what the true history says.What is being discussed is a fictitious mother.And Bulgaria cannot introduce you to canonicity,or normal relations with the other Churches.There must be direct,honest and sincere inter-Orthodox relations.
Every time a Synaxis of Orthodox Primates is convened either here or in Chambesy,the Ecumenical Patriarchate's attempt is to put all subjects on the table and to discuss them with honesty and sincerity.*
The Patriarch made an open invitation to the FYROM theological educators and students:
Know that we love you,and come whenever you want in this beautiful and historic City,where are the Courtyards of the Mother Church,from which you,and all the Balkan peoples,received baptism and the light of Christianity.Therefore,every time you come here to us in Istanbul,you do not have to feel that you are strangers,that you are guests;but that you are at home.
We have high hopes for you and for your ministry in the Church in the future.These are true despite the fact that there are currently problems between your country and Greece,and between your Church and all other Orthodox Churches.Precisely,we count on the new generation of theologians and clergy,which can help strengthen relations of neighbouring peoples and between the Orthodox Churches.Today,our generation,the older generation,will do everything we can to improve the situation,especially our Ecumenical Patriarchate,which has the coordinating role in the transcendental things-and after our generation,you will take over and you will continue,cultivate and augment these good relations between our peoples and our Churches.*
Following his moving address,His All-Holiness distributed with his blessing to the FYROM pilgrims books on the history of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the official texts of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church in Crete in 2016;Easter eggs and holy keepsakes.They were also invited to dine with the Patriarch in the Patriarchal refectory.

Major Protestant/OrthodoxTheological Conference Held in Geneva

An International Theological Conference on "The Anthropology of Luther:Protestant and Orthodox Approaches" was held from 7-8 November 2017 in Geneva,Switzerland.It was jointly organised  by the Postgraduate Institute of Orthodox Theology of The Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambesy;the Department of Theology of the University of Geneva;and the Swiss Institute of Systematic Theology and Ethics (IRSE).Distinguished speakers from Theological Schools and Universities in Switzerland;France;Germany;Greece;the UK;the US;and Lebanon attended.Sessions were held at The Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the University of Geneva.*
Topics addressed in the papers included:
"The Eccesiological Proposal of the Lutherans and the Theological Dialogue;"
"The Freedom of the Christian;"
 "Faith and Vindication;"
 "Sanctification and Theosis;"and,in conclusion,
 "Sola Fide:An Interpretive Approach" by His Eminence Metropolitan John of Pergamon (Ecumenical Patriarchate).
Other thought leaders presenting included His Eminence Archbishop Job of Telmessos and His Eminence Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia (Ecumenical Patriarchate);Ambassador to the Vatican Dr.Tamara Grdzelidze (Republic of Georgia);Christoph Chalamet (University of Geneva);and Dr.Beate Bengard (University of Basle).*
The event closed with a piano recital in honour of the conferees at the Great Hall of the City Conservatory,organised by the Theological School of the University of Geneva.

Preparatory Meeting for Pan-Orthodox Council Called (Revised and Updated)

His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will chair a meeting of delegations from the 14 autocephalous Orthodox Churches at the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambesy,Switzerland from 21-28 January.The meeting is to make final preparations for the Great and Holy Council of the Orthodox Church,which is scheduled to begin on Orthodox Pentecost Sunday,19 June 2016,at Haghia Irene,the ancient Church of St.Irene,in Constantinople (Istanbul).The rules of the Council must be finalised and any other remaining issues resolved.The meeting will evaluate and validate the texts to be proposed for approval at the Council.
Among those in attendance at Chambesy are Archbishop Demetrios of America;Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia;and Patriarch Daniel of Romania.Metropolitan Sawa of Poland and Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East could not attend for health reasons;while Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens and All Greece could not come for personal reasons.All Churches have sent authorised delegations,however.The primates will concelebrate the Sunday Divine Liturgy.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is being advised by theologians Metropolitan John of Pergamon and Metropolitan Emmanuel of France.He proposed that the length of the Great and Holy Council be two weeks and that a range of people,including representatives of the Orthodox clergy and laity,as well as media and non-Orthodox ecumenical observers,be invited to the Council.*
The Council has been many decades in the making.It will seek to convey the Orthodox Church's message to the modern world at large,as well as work to normalise her internal affairs and guide her external relations with other Christian churches and other religions.