Pan-Orthodox Council Moved From Constantinople,Preparatory Meeting Decides

At the ongoing preparatory meeting for the Great and Holy Council of the Orthodox Church in Chambesy,Switzerland,a major decision has already been made.The Council,planned for June 2016,has been moved from Constantinople (Istanbul) to the Greek island of Crete.This is to accommodate the position of the Russian Orthodox Church,largest of the 14 autocephalous Orthodox Churches,which would not be able to attend a council in Turkey because of the current poor state of relations between Russia and Turkey.*
In other developments,His Holiness Patriarch Daniel of Romania said in an address to the meeting that he would like to see Pan-Orthodox synods held regularly every five,seven or ten years in order to deal with issues that weren't resolved at a previous synod,or to deal with new problems facing the Church,such as the current refugee crisis in Europe.*
In his address to the meeting,His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said that the Holy and Great Council is called to become a visible,clear and convincing testimony to the unity of the Orthodox Church.And we realise that the Council can become such only if it reflects the true unanimity of the Local Orthodox Churches.It is for the sake of this unanimity that we all are to work hard together in the pre-Council period.
The unresolved topics are not due to real disagreements among the Local Orthodox Churches,His Holiness stated,but to the flawed methodology of the pre-conciliar process.*
The preparatory meeting is being held at the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambesy,Geneva canton,Switzerland and runs through 28 January.Sunday Divine Liturgy was held in the Centre's Church of St.Paul and was concelebrated by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Primates or Heads of Delegations of the autocephalous Churches.Languages used in the service included Greek,Arabic,Old Church Slavonic and French.*
His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem and All Palestine is among the Primates attending the meeting.His advisor,Mr.Theodoros Yangou,Professor of Canon Law at the Faculty of Theology of the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki,is also a member of the Jerusalem Patriarchate's delegation.