The Greek Orthodox Community of Stavrodromi, on 1-4 September 2018 was the chosen venue for the Synaxis of Hierarchs of the Ecumenical Throne that took place in our city. The meetings of the Synaxis were chaired by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and were held in the church of Agia Triada of our Community, same as the previous Synaxis of 2015.
More than one hundred Hierarchs from around the globe participated in the Synaxis and the items of the agenda included matters of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and current affairs of inter-orthodox interest. Our Commission attended to every detail so that this significant ecclesiastic event be held in the best way possible and, therefore, provided every financial and technical coverage.
In his closing speech, the Ecumenical Patriarch pointed out that Mother Church fights “for the unity and stability of Orthodoxy and for a common ecclesiastic identity”.
He added that we referred “extensively to inter-orthodox matters in this Synaxis. The Ecumenical Patriarchate, being responsible for safeguarding the unity, coordination of inter-orthodox relations and pan-orthodox initiatives, performs its divine work in the orthodox world, faithful to its unshaken ecclesiastic and canonical principles of the Tradition of our Fathers”.
Finally, Patriarch Bartolomew assured that “we clearly also cultivate contact with the modern world, within which the Church experiences and offers its identity. The great challenges of our time, the prevalence of technology and the achievements thereof, secularisation, globalisation, the gradual shrinking and forgettance of the social and communal aspect of liberty, social injustice, eudemonism the deterioration of the environment as well as racial nationalism, religious fundamentalism, the conflict of cultures and other threats of the sacred nature of man, require common answers, common identity, common future path. The Metropolitan of Pergamos reminds us this duty of Orthodoxy: “In the world to come, Orthodoxy cannot provided a fragmented identity, but one that comes from “a single mouth and a single heart”. The Ecumenical Patriarchate has a duty to remind everybody the catholicity and universality of the Church, promoting the spirit of reconciliation and overcoming disputes, serving the unity of Orthodoxy”.
