On 25 and 26 September 2026, the Fourteenth Clergy Synaxis of the Holy Orthodox Metropolis of Italy was held in Bologna, convened by Metropolitan Polykarpos of Italy, Exarch of Southern Europe.
The synaxis was attended by all the clergy of the Metropolis, drawn from the various church communities throughout the country, who gathered for two days of discussion, reflection and sharing on the principal questions concerning the pastoral life and the work of the Orthodox Church in Italy.
The proceedings began with meetings of the individual Vicariates, held simultaneously in separate rooms. Under the guidance of their respective Vicars, the clergy gave an account of the parishes and communities entrusted to them, examining their pastoral, liturgical, and organisational life. Particular attention was given to the needs arising in the different regions, to the difficulties encountered in the daily exercise of the priestly ministry, to the participation of the faithful in the life of the Church, to catechesis and formation, and to the need to strengthen cooperation and coordination between the parishes and the bodies of the Metropolis.
The Vicariate meetings thus formed a first moment of listening and review, gathering the experiences, concerns and proposals arising from the diverse ecclesial and local realities of the Metropolis as the basis for the common discussion that followed.
At the close of this first session, the Metropolitan of Italy formally opened the synaxis, greeting and welcoming all the clergy who had come to Bologna. On this occasion the Metropolitan conveyed to the whole clergy the paternal blessing of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, together with His greetings and His closeness to the Holy Orthodox Metropolis of Italy and to the ministry its clergy carry out in the many places across Italy where they serve.
In his opening address, the Metropolitan underlined the particular ecclesial significance of this gathering of the clergy, recalling that the synaxis is an important institution in the life of every local Church. It offers the bishop and his clergy the opportunity to meet in the communion of the Church, speak with one another directly, share experiences and reflections, and address together the questions that concern pastoral care and, more broadly, the diakonia of the Church.
The synaxis is therefore not merely an organisational or administrative occasion, but a true expression of the κοινωνία, the communion, between the bishop and the clergy entrusted to him: an occasion for mutual listening, fraternal exchange and shared pastoral responsibility, in which to discern the needs of the people of God and to find ever more fitting ways for the Church to fulfil her mission and bear her witness in the world of today.
A significant part of the first day was devoted to the communications of the Holy Metropolis and to new ways of making the Orthodox presence in Italy more visible and accessible. The head of communications, Dr Antonio Spano, together with Bishop Athenagoras of Thermae, presented to the clergy the new organisation and development of the website of the Metropolis, setting out its aims, structure and prospects.
Bishop Dionysios of Kotyaion then presented the new social media strategy of the Metropolis, dwelling on the need for a coordinated, responsible and properly ecclesial presence in the new spaces of digital communication. In the same presentation, the television project ‘Il Tesoro Nascosto’ (‘The Hidden Treasure’) was introduced: the first Orthodox television programme in Italy to be broadcast nationwide, conceived as a further means of making known the faith, spirituality, history and presence of Orthodoxy in Italy, and of the Metropolis in particular.
The presentations were followed by a full and constructive discussion, in which the clergy were able to speak, put forward proposals and share ideas and observations aimed at the further development and improvement of the means of communication of the Metropolis.
After dinner, the evening continued in a fraternal atmosphere, offering the clergy who had come from every part of Italy a precious space for personal encounter. It was an opportunity to come to know one another better, to strengthen the bonds of brotherhood and to share freely the experiences, questions and spiritual and pastoral concerns that accompany the daily ministry of the Church in the particular context of Italy.
On Saturday 26 September, after the prayer appointed in the programme, the second day of the synaxis opened with a spiritual reflection by Bishop Georgios of Krateia, which offered those present a time of recollection and of deeper reflection on the meaning of the priestly ministry and of service in the Church.
There followed the reports of the various Vicariates. Their representatives described the situation of the communities in their care, bringing specific pastoral, organisational and local questions before the assembly. The discussion brought to light both the difficulties and the possibilities for growth in the parishes of the Holy Metropolis, in full awareness of the great variety of circumstances in which the Orthodox clergy are called to exercise their ministry in Italy today.
When the reports had concluded, Bishop Athenagoras of Thermae addressed some of the principal administrative and organisational questions concerning the general life of the Metropolis, while Bishop Dionysios of Kotyaion presented matters relating to the ecumenical commitment of the Holy Metropolis, recalling the importance of dialogue and of Orthodox witness within the ecclesial landscape of Italy.
In the same address, Bishop Dionysios also presented to the clergy the new publishing house ‘Diakonia’, founded by the Holy Orthodox Metropolis of Italy to serve the liturgical life, theological formation, catechesis and pastoral work of the communities. He introduced the first official Italian translations of the liturgical books now being prepared for publication, together with aids designed to help the faithful take part more fully in the liturgical life of the Church.
The outlines of the publishing programme were also presented, providing for the gradual publication of theological, liturgical, pastoral and catechetical works. Through the ‘Diakonia’ publishing house, the Metropolis intends to place sound resources in Italian at the disposal of clergy and faithful alike, while helping to make the spiritual and theological heritage of the Orthodox Tradition more accessible within Italy.
Protopresbyter Sergio Mainoldi then presented to the clergy the ‘Saint Euphemia of Chalcedon’ Theological Institute, describing its educational mission and the service it is called to render in the theological and cultural formation of the Holy Metropolis.
Finally, Protopresbyter Petru Filipescu presented the innovative ‘Ecoscuola’ (Eco-School) project, inspired by the ecological sensitivity of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and by His decades-long teaching on humanity’s responsibility towards creation. The initiative seeks to translate this sensitivity into a concrete path of education, formation and growing responsibility for church communities and for the younger generations.
Before the close of the synaxis, Metropolitan Polykarpos of Italy spoke once more to draw together the conclusions of the two days of work.
Recalling that Orthodoxy has been present on Italian soil since apostolic times, the Metropolitan placed at the heart of his reflection the responsibility of Christian witness in the contemporary world. The priest is called above all to bear witness to Christ; a witness that does not always need many words, but which can become especially eloquent through love shown to every person without distinction.
Orthodoxy, he stressed, cannot see itself as a ‘ghetto’ closed in upon itself, nor can it have anything to do with fanaticism, nationalism or ethnophyletism in any form. The Orthodox Church is called rather to enter into dialogue with the society in which she lives, offering it what belongs most intimately to her ecclesial experience: the beauty, the κάλλος, of a life transfigured by the presence of Christ.
In this light, cooperation between clergy and laity, founded on mutual knowledge and trust, takes on particular importance. The Church is asked not only to identify and denounce the difficulties of her age, but above all to point to the meaning of life and to hand on the message of hope that springs from the Resurrection: death is not the last word on human existence, but is swallowed up in the sea of life.
The Metropolitan then turned to the increasingly multicultural reality of today’s Orthodox parishes. This certainly demands the ability to communicate across different languages and cultures, which is indispensable for pastoral work and for relations with the wider community; yet, more deeply still, it demands sound preparation and a well-grounded theological discourse, able to give a reason for the Orthodox faith in the contemporary world.
At the end of two intense days, the Clergy Synaxis in Bologna thus presented the image of a Church called to live her presence on Italian soil to the full: faithful to the Tradition she has received, yet attentive to the questions of the present; rooted in the Divine Liturgy, yet reaching out towards the ‘liturgy after the Liturgy’; guarding her identity, yet open to dialogue; aware of the difficulties, yet bearing a hope that does not fail.
From the life of the parishes to the care of the younger generations, from theological formation to ecumenical commitment, from responsibility for creation to communication in the digital world, and on to the new publishing work of the Metropolis in the liturgical, theological and catechetical fields, a single vocation emerges: to bear witness to Christ and to make the presence of Orthodoxy in contemporary Italy ever more living, conscious and fruitful.
For the Orthodox presence in Italy is called not simply to preserve a memory of the past, but to be a presence that is living, visible and fruitful; not a reality turned in upon itself, but a Church that encounters, listens, enters into dialogue and serves.
And in every form of her diakonia, the goal set before the clergy at the close of the synaxis remains unchanged: to lead the people entrusted to their care towards the one haven to which the whole life of the Church is directed, the Kingdom of God.
