The three-day meeting of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for the month of October begins today presided by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
The three Finnish Hierarchs were invited to attend the morning session of the Holy Synod, which will carry out its three-day work at the Monastery of the Life-Giving Font of the Theotokos in Balikli, where there is more space and the health measures can be more easily observed.
Yesterday, after the permission and urging of the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Finland, chaired by Archbishop Leo of Helsinki and all of Finland, took place for the first time at the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Archbishop of Australia Makarios honorarily attended the meeting on the side of the Ecumenical Patriarch.
The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Finland unanimously decided to refer the issue of the election of an assistant bishop to the forthcoming Clergy-Laity Congress (to take place on November), which will nominate suitable persons.
The Holy Synod also sentenced the First Deacon, George Härkönen, a clergyman of the Diocese of Kuopio and Karelia, to a six-month cessation of ecclesiastical duties because he had committed a breach.
Finally, the Holy Synod decided to appoint Protopresbyter Mikael Sundkvist, a clergyman of the Archdiocese of Helsinki, as Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod.