CAIRO (AP) — The leaders of
the world's Orthodox Christian churches ended a historic gathering on the Greek
island of Crete on Sunday hoping to repeat the meeting within a decade, despite
a boycott by the Russian church — the most populous in a religion of some 300
million people — and three other churches.
Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew I led prayers attended by the 10 Orthodox church leaders who
attended to mark the end of the weeklong Holy and Great Council — the first of
its kind in more than 1,200 years.
Despite decades of
preparation, Orthodox leaders failed ahead of the meeting to overcome
differences on efforts to reconcile with the Vatican and some doctrinal issues.
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow did
not attend, arguing that preparation had been inadequate. The Georgian,
Bulgarian and Syria-based Antioch patriarchates also did not take part.
"The proposal was made
for the Holy and Great Council to become a regular Institution to be convened
every seven or ten years," the 10 church leaders said in a joint message.
Kirill described the Crete
meeting as a preparatory one and called for a new full meeting at a later date.
It is unlikely he will accept a decision to make such meetings a permanent
acting body. It is also highly unlikely the churches that did not attend will
comply with any decisions taken at the meeting.
The issues discussed at the
meeting included the mission of the Orthodox Church in the modern world, the
Orthodox diaspora, the importance of fasting, marriage, and the relations of
the Orthodox Church with the rest of the Christian world.
Unlike the centralized
authority of the Vatican over Roman Catholics, Orthodox churches are
independent, with Bartholomew considered the first among equals.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate,
based in Istanbul in predominantly Muslim Turkey, is frequently at odds with
the Russian Church, which represents more than 100 million faithful.
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