The working sessions of the Synod of the Hierarchy of the Ecumenical Throne in Constantinople continue for the second day.
Yesterday, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew presided over the Orthros and the Divine Liturgy in the Phanar, along with the Metropolitans, Archbishops, and the provincial Bishops, for the beginning of the new ecclesiastical year.
With great splendor, according to the long-standing ecclesiastical order and tradition, was celebrated on Tuesday, September 1st, 2020, at the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the beginning of the Indiction – the ecclesiastical New Year – and the Gathering in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos of Pammakaristos, whose icon is kept in the Patriarchal Church.
Yesterday has been dedicated, since 1989, to prayer for the protection of the natural environment.
In his Message, the Ecumenical Patriarch referred to the recent catastrophic fires that broke out around the world, as well as to the Pandemic, noting the following:
“We pray for the rapid overcoming of the effects of the health crisis and for the enlightenment of governments around the world so that they do not return or persist in those principles of organization of economic life, production and consumption, and the exploitation of natural resources, which were in force before the pandemic.
Our sincere wish is the end of the spread of false scientific views about the supposed danger of the vaccines against Covid-19, the defamation of the specialists, and the unequivocal degradation of the severity of the disease.
Unfortunately, similar positions are being spread regarding climate change, its causes, and its devastating consequences. Reality is completely different, and before it requires responsibility, partnership, coexistence, and a common vision.
Read below the program of the second day of the Synod of the Ecumenical Throne:
Thursday, September 2, 2021
[09:30] Second Session: The proclamation of the Gospel in the 21st century
- Archbishop Sotirios of Canada.
- Metropolitan Sotirios of Pisidia.
- Metropolitan Ambrosios of Korea.
Break
- Bishop Timotheos of Assos.
- Bishop Raphael of Ilion.
- Bishop Ambrosios of Argyroupolis.
Discussion.
[16:30] Third Session: Church and the Modern World.
I. The Ecumenical Patriarchate in the modern geopolitical, ecclesiastical and social environment.
- Dimitrios Paraskevopoulos
“Modern geopolitical facts and the Orthodox Church”.
- Metropolitan Kyrillos of Krini:
“Ecumenical Patriarchate: Normal Tradition and Ecclesiology in the Dimension of Modern Developments”.
- Archbishop Elpidophoros of America:
“The Reserve Fund of the Church in the Name of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, an initiative of the Archdiocese of America.”
Discussion.
- Professor Aristotelis Papanikolaou:
“On the text ‘In favor of the world of life”
- George Vlantis:
“The modern landscape in Ecumenical relations”
- Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon
“The Ecumenical Patriarchate in dialogue with non-Christian religions”
Discussion.