LAST UPDATE 19:40
The working sessions of the Assembly have already begun and are taking place in a central hotel of Constantinople, in order to avoid travel due to the pandemic.
Earlier in the morning, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew presided over the Orthros and the Divine Liturgy of the Feast of the Indiction in the Phanar, along with the Metropolitans, Archbishops, and the provincial Bishops, for the beginning of the new ecclesiastical year.
Today is dedicated to prayer for the protection of the natural environment.
The Ecumenical Patriarch in his message for the protection of the environment, emphasizes that “the indifference for the suffering fellow human and for the destruction of the” very good “creation, is an insult to God and a violation of his commandments”.
“Where there is respect for creation and practical love for God’s beloved man, there God is present,” he adds.
The Ecumenical Patriarch expresses the hope for the end of the spread of “pseudo-scientific views” about the alleged danger of coronavirus vaccines.
Similar positions, he emphasizes, are also expressed regarding climate change, its causes, and its “catastrophic consequences”.
Indiction’s work program for today is as follows:
[08:30] Patriarchal Church: Ecumenical PatriarchBartholomew will preside over the Orthros and Divine Liturgy, along with the Metropolitans, Archbishops, and Provincial Bishops, who sign the Act of the Indiction.
[17:00] Commencement of the working sessions of the Holy Assembly.
Service for the beginning of the working sessions of the Holy Assembly.
Introductory Speech of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
Speech of the Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon
Session 1: Pandemic and Ecclesiastical life.
I. The Challenge of the Pandemic.
. Professor Sotirios Tsiodras
ΙΙ. The Church at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic: problems, experiences, solutions
- Metropolitan Nektarios of Hong Kong
- Metropolitan Arsenios of Austria
- Metropolitan Kirill of Ierapitni and Sitia
- Archbishop Makarios of Australia
Discussion.