The Saint Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine is pleased to announce an essay contest honoring His All-Holiness Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch, in celebration of his 35 years of ministry.

The contest is open to Sunday School students ages 12 through 18.

Students are invited to reflect upon the global impact of His All-Holiness Bartholomew’s ministry over the past 35 years and the important role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in the life and witness of the Orthodox Christian Faith. Essays should be no more than three pages in length and should thoughtfully address both the worldwide impact of His All-Holiness and the significance of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to Orthodox Christians around the world. The top three essay winners will receive special recognition and monetary awards.

Essays should be submitted electronically in Word or PDF format by email to [email protected]. Each submission must include the author’s name, address, age, and parish. 

Submissions are due by Friday, October 30th, 2026.

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NEW YORK — Judge John Iliou spends his working days with families at their breaking point. His Suffolk County caseload includes allegations of child abuse and neglect, along with cases involving domestic violence. So when His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America asked him how anyone does that work, the judge responded: “I get strength from my family. My wife is phenomenal. Athena is the best,” Iliou said. “And, then my faith helps me.”

Iliou, a Suffolk County Court judge and a candidate for the New York State Supreme Court, came to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America’s headquarters on East 79th Street in Manhattan last week to ask for the Archbishop’s blessing. With him were his wife, Athena Iliou; his father, Tom Iliou; and the Fr. Elias Pappas, presiding priest of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in West Babylon, the family’s parish on Long Island.

The judge was precise about the difference between what decides his cases and what keeps him going. “I’m guided by the law, by precedent,” he said. “We all have our own personal opinions, but I put them aside when I go into the law.” Iliou presides over the Integrated Domestic Violence Part in Suffolk County, where he also serves as an acting state Supreme Court justice. New York began building these courts in 2001 around an idea summed up as “one family, one judge.” When domestic violence lies beneath a family’s legal troubles, a single judge hears its related criminal, family and divorce cases, so the family does not shuttle among courthouses or receive conflicting orders from different judges. He has been part of that court almost from its start. Suffolk’s integrated court opened in October 2002 as one of the state’s first six, and Iliou was its principal law clerk from 2003 to 2006.

After graduating from Hofstra University and Albany Law School, he became an assistant district attorney in Suffolk County in 1994. He later worked as an assistant town attorney in Brookhaven, as a court attorney in Suffolk’s Family Court and as a principal law clerk in County Court. He became a Suffolk County District Court judge in 2006 and has served on the County Court since 2013. Off the bench, he is a former trustee of the West Babylon school board and has served as an officer of AHEPA, the Greek American fraternal organization.

“We are proud of you,” Archbishop Elpidophoros told the judge. “The church is your family. The Archdiocese is your family.”
He was just as plain about where the church stands in an election season. “The church is not partisan. We do not support one specific political party,” he said, explaining that the church is there for its people αnd want them to succeed when they serve in a public office.

Athena Iliou’s family comes from Kastoria, in the country’s north, and told His Eminence that she spent her childhood summers there. “Some of the most beautiful Byzantine churches in northern Greece are in Kastoria,” the Archbishop remarked.

Tom Iliou helped build the family’s parish. St. Nicholas once worshipped in a small church in the Babylon area, the judge said, until a priest of that era brought parishioners together to build the church the community uses today. His father was among those who did the work. The elder Iliou recalled needing great quantities of fill to prepare the grounds and calling a friend for help. Truck after truck arrived. When he asked what the parish owed, he was told the church would not be charged. He and others also laid the parish’s sidewalks and parking lot.

A new generation serves at its altar now. Fr. Elias Pappas, whom Archbishop Elpidophoros ordained to the priesthood in 2022, became presiding priest of St. Nicholas in June 2025.

“You see, it takes generations to build the body of Christ, the church,” the Archbishop said. “So many people worked so hard and we inherited all these beautiful things and we need to be worthy of having them and expanding them and growing them.”

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NEW YORK — His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America received Spyros Koulkoudinas, a member of the Hellenic Parliament for Pieria, at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America’s headquarters in Manhattan on Wednesday, October 14, for a discussion of Orthodox faith, Greek heritage and public service. Koulkoudinas, a New Democracy lawmaker, is visiting New York for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s Parliamentarian Dialogue Program, which runs through October 16. The program examines how lawmakers can connect the needs of their communities with international cooperation and global governance.

Koulkoudinas spoke of his family’s roots in Asia Minor and the role of faith and tradition in sustaining Greek communities through displacement and hardship. The conversation also touched on the personal demands of service during the the COVID-19 pandemic. Koulkoudinas, a pharmacist, recalled caring for patients while fearing that he might bring the virus home to his infant child. The Archbishop reflected on the Church’s adaptation during that period, including Synod meetings held by videoconference, a step without precedent at the time that has since become part of regular practice. Looking ahead, he described the Archdiocese’s efforts to strengthen its ministries, services and scholarships, emphasizing the importance of transparent financial management in sustaining the confidence and support of the faithful.

“We are all striving to do our duty,” the Archbishop said.

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At the Phanar on Friday, September 11, 2026, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew welcomed a group of pilgrims who were journeying to Prousa and Nicaea as well as Constantinople, and elucidated for them the often-overlooked spiritual value and importance of making pilgrimages to holy sites.

“We believe,” His All-Holiness said, “that healthy religious tourism is never merely a leisure trip.” Pilgrims are not primarily tourists, and are not engaged in simple sightseeing: “The monuments themselves, which visitors enter,” His All-Holiness explained, “do not allow for that.”

His All-Holiness explained that such places do not allow for casual visiting, or draw the casual visitor into a more profound experience than he or she may have expected, because of the spiritual character of these sites, which remains uneffaced even in ruined churches and monasteries. The Orthodox attentiveness to the importance of creating a sacred space makes the experience of visiting these sites far more than just another tourist stop.

“The sanctity of the space of the churches and monasteries,” said the Ecumenical Patriarch, “the works of doxological art, the whole ethos and spirit of the place that houses or once housed a life dedicated to God — all of these transform the visitor into a pilgrim. Quickly, the superficial acquaintance with the monuments becomes a desire to partake in the truth of things, in the historical adventures of the Nation, which are inextricably bound to its Orthodox Christian identity, a participation in our wonderful traditions.”

His All-Holiness pointed out that “it is impossible to imagine that an Orthodox Christian enters a monastery without feeling the ‘good transformation,’ a spiritual upheaval, without sensing that he is in a sanctified place.”

This is because, he continued, “the monuments of our faith are not mere sights. They are places of divine presence, of prayer and supplication, of spiritual and psychic uplift. Everything there exhales a spiritual fragrance, creates compunction, radiates a mystical light, proclaims the beneficent presence and grace of the God of love. All our monuments and pilgrimage sites form a theological and cultural language that reveals the intangible heritage of the Nation, the Orthodox mindset, the truth of art, the priority of relationship, the ‘culture of the person.’”

Addressing the pilgrims, His All-Holiness charged them to be spiritually attentive as they continued on their journey: “On this pilgrimage journey of yours, you too will encounter this same ethos, this same spirit.” He explained why this was true even when the pilgrims visited ruins of ancient Christian sites: “Although the outward ‘grandeur’ of the Nation no longer exists among our monuments, the eternal present of Truth remains. And even if today we no longer find our once-flourishing communities in the sacred Asia Minor land, nor the charitable institutions, parishes, and monasteries, we find everywhere the imprint of Romiosyni, its indelible traces and its seal, bearing witness to and proclaiming a presence of centuries, and granting vital revelations to all pilgrims, however many times they come to this incomparable place.” Romiosyni, or “Romanness,” refers to the religion, culture, and indomitable spirit of the Greek-speaking Christian population of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire.

His All-Holiness spoke movingly about the spiritual power of these pilgrimage destinations: “It is characteristic that the footsteps of devout pilgrims are drawn to our monuments, as if pulled by a holy force. And when the pilgrims arrive, they taste the waters of eternity, hear unspeakable words, undergo an inner renewal, and feel as though, after a long absence in a foreign land, they have returned to their ancestral home. It is the grace of God, a living and life-giving presence, at work. And the icons that remain in our pilgrimage sites, even if defaced by a profane human hand, express intact the divine loving-kindness, our faith in its entirety, our hope unadulterated.”

Speaking personally, His All-Holiness added: “I declare, before you as well, that with the help of the all-merciful God, as long as I live and breathe, I will not cease to come as a humble suppliant and pilgrim to the divine dwelling-places of the Church and of the Nation in Asia Minor, Mother of Saints, in Pontus, in Eastern Thrace. When we celebrate the Holy Services in our restored or ruined churches, we feel that the souls of our devout ancestors, who rest in this holy soil and await the resurrection of the dead, leap and rejoice together with us, chanting together ‘Christ is Risen’ and ‘Glory to God in the Highest.’ What the pilgrims feel here is not mere emotion and compunction. It is a revelation of divine majesty and compassion.”

His All-Holiness emphasized the responsibility of parents and teachers to impress upon youth the importance of Orthodox traditions: “When we address parents and teachers, we always urge them to teach the new generation the traditions and values of the Nation, so that it may not forget its roots and may feel proud of the most precious things it has inherited from its ancestors. We rejoice when we welcome, here in the City and in the unforgotten homelands, young men and women, always with the certainty that even those who came as visitors will become pilgrims, that the journey will become a sacred pilgrimage.”

May we feel the same pride in the precious gift of our Holy Orthodox Faith, and its foremost exponent today, our beloved Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Original article here.

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His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America welcomed Hellenic Olympic Committee President Isidoros Kouvelos and former Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis to the Archdiocese headquarters on October 14 for a luncheon held in their honor, as Greece’s Olympic leadership looks ahead to the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

“For us, meeting the Greek American community is always deeply meaningful. You have built lives, institutions and communities here, while keeping a strong bond with Greece,” Kouvelos said. “And this bond was kept alive through faith, through our Church.”

He credited that relationship to faith, citing “the strength of God and the protection of Christ and the Panagia.” “In every corner of the world where Greeks travelled, struggled and created, the Church became a home, a refuge and a point of unity. It kept the Diaspora together, gave courage in difficult times, and helped Hellenism rise and prosper in distant lands, remaining faithful to its roots.”

That connection, he said, can now become a source of strength for Team Hellas on the road to Los Angeles. “When our athletes arrive in California, they will carry with them the history of Greece, the pride of a nation, and the hopes of a new generation,” Kouvelos said. “And here, on American soil, they will meet another part of Greece.”

He noted that the Olympic flame, lit at ancient Olympia, will again travel to the United States to open the Games. “This light comes from our homeland but belongs to the whole of humanity,” Kouvelos said. “Every Olympic journey, wherever it takes place, is connected forever with Greece.”

Support Long Before the Applause

During their meeting, Kouvelos briefed His Eminence on the Committee’s preparations for the road to LA 2028 and on the projects the Hellenic Olympic Committee has undertaken under his presidency. These include the restoration of the Olympic Rowing Centre in Schinias and the historic swimming facility in Athens, as well as the restoration of the Panathenaic Stadium, the “Kallimarmaro,” for the first time in 130 years. The Committee is also working toward a new Athletes’ Residence, a true home for the athletes preparing to represent Greece at the Olympic Games. The projects share one vision, Kouvelos said: to turn Olympic heritage into living support for the next generation.

“Behind every Olympic appearance, there are years of work and sacrifice,” he said. “Our responsibility is to support them long before the applause begins.”

Kouvelos recalled that Greek Americans supported the Greek team when the Games came to the United States, in St. Louis in 1904 and Los Angeles in 1932, at times even competing as part of it. To carry that support forward, the Committee has established a 501(c)(3) structure in the United States so that friends and supporters of Team Hellas can contribute with confidence, clarity and trust.

Closing his remarks, Kouvelos turned to the Archbishop: “Your Eminence, your name carries a beautiful meaning: hope,” he said, a reference to the name Elpidophoros, “bearer of hope.” “And hope is also at the heart of Team Hellas.”

His Grace Bishop Nektarios of Diokleia, Chancellor of the Archdiocese, opened the luncheon, which brought together members of the Archdiocesan Council and leaders of the Greek-American community. Among them were John Catsimatidis, Vice Chairman of the Archdiocesan Council; Dr. Anthony J. Limberakis, National Commander of the Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate; philanthropist C. Dean Metropoulos; the Hon. B. Theodore Bozonelis, National Vice Commander of the Order; and Anita Kartalopoulos, First Vice President of the National Ladies Philoptochos Society. Also in attendance was Fr. Alexander Karloutsos, Grand Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and Spiritual Advisor to the Archons.

In his remarks, Archbishop Elpidophoros began by acknowledging minister Bakoyannis and thanking her for standing with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Archdiocese in difficult times.

He credited her with an initiative, pursued during her tenure as Greek Foreign Minister, that allowed hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate serving outside Türkiye to apply for Turkish citizenship. The Turkish government extended that offer in 2010, enabling those hierarchs to serve on the Holy and Sacred Synod, whose members Türkiye has required to be Turkish citizens.

“She had the idea, not only the idea, but she implemented it. She’s a doer,” Archbishop Elpidophoros said. “We owe this to you, Your Excellency, and we thank you for that.”

The Archbishop said the approach of 2028 is raising interest in “all things Greek” across the country. “Greece will never go out of style, or out of relevance,” Archbishop Elpidophoros said.

He noted that the Ecumenical Patriarch, now in his 35th year on the Ecumenical Throne, has called on the world to observe the Olympic truce, the Εκεχειρία. “Violence is diametrically opposed to the contest and the spirit of the Olympics,” Archbishop Elpidophoros said.

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The School of Byzantine Music, a national ministry of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, is proud to announce the publication of The Funeral Service (Service for Brethren Fallen Asleep), the first volume of the Archdiocese’s new Psaltic Art Library. The beautiful hardcover edition is available immediately for $60 (US) at www.orthodoxmarketplace.com/the-funeral-service.

With the generous support of Leadership 100, the initiative of the Psaltic Art Library embodies His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America’s vision to equip ministry leaders and workers for building up the Body of Christ. The Psaltic Art Library will bring together service books and educational texts for all Sacraments and major services of the Church in handsome editions. Each edition will be paired with professional audio recordings that will be available on all major streaming platforms worldwide.

The English hymns in the Funeral Service translation, approved by the Holy Eparchial Synod, are metered to match the original Greek. The book is made for parish choirs, cantors, clergy, seminarians, Byzantine Music schools, and students of the Psaltic Art. This edition promotes the sacred art of Byzantine chant and makes the Church’s liturgical treasury more accessible to contemporary generations. Audio recordings of the Funeral Service are planned for launch on major streaming services worldwide by early 2027.

The Funeral Service and the Psaltic Art Library build on the successful launch of the School of Byzantine Music’s Sunday Orthros albums (www.goarch.org/orthros). Archbishop Elpidophoros announced the Sunday Orthros during his keynote address at the Clergy-Laity Congress in Cleveland. The 16 albums, eight in English and eight in Greek and covering all eight modes, have been a major success, capturing more than 40,000 streams on Spotify from July through October 2026.

Order now: www.orthodoxmarketplace.com/the-funeral-service

Learn more: sbm.goarch.org

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MOBILE, AL — October 8, 2026 — National Philoptochos is proud to support Ronald McDonald House Mobile with a $91,351 grant establishing the Family Care Van, a new transportation program serving families whose children are receiving medical care in the Mobile, Alabama area.

The grant made possible the purchase of a new 15-passenger van, two car seats, and a wheelchair-accessible conversion, along with the first year of a part-time driver. Through this program, families will have daily transportation between Ronald McDonald House Mobile and USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital, as well as rides to other area hospitals, medical appointments, pharmacies, and, when needed, work. Twice-weekly shopping trips and occasional outings will help families care for their everyday needs while they are far from home.

For several years, families returning home from Ronald McDonald House Mobile have named transportation as the service they need most. For parents already carrying the weight of a child’s illness or injury, something as simple as a ride can mean being present at a child’s bedside, receiving their own medical care, or bringing home a needed prescription.

To celebrate this milestone, National Philoptochos President Debbie George traveled to Mobile alongside Metropolis of Atlanta Philoptochos President Effie Moraitakis, who were joined by Sarah Kalaris and Despina Koulianos. Together, they were welcomed by the Ronald McDonald House Mobile team to see the Family Care Van firsthand and celebrate the difference it will make for the families who call the House home during their time of need.

Speaking at the celebration, President George reflected on the meaning behind the organization’s name and the families at the center of this work.

“Philoptochos means ‘friend of the poor,’ and for nearly a century, the women of our organization have tried to live up to that name: showing up for families in the moments when they need it most,” said President George. “And there are few moments that ask more of a family than when a child is sick.”

Recalling the moment the grant was first awarded, she shared how seeing the van in person brought its purpose to life.

“At the time, it was a number on a page and a hope for what it could become. Standing here today, seeing it in person, it feels like so much more than that,” she said. “Because this van isn’t just a vehicle. It’s a ride to a treatment that can’t be missed. It’s one less thing for a tired parent to worry about. It’s a few quiet minutes together on the way to the hospital, and maybe, someday, the drive home.”

President George also extended her gratitude to the staff, volunteers, and supporters of Ronald McDonald House Mobile, thanking them for creating a place where families can feel held during the hardest chapters of their lives.

This grant is a testament to the devotion of Philoptochos members at the local level, who recognized the need in their own community and guided the application through the National Philoptochos grants process. Paul Giardina, Executive Director of Ronald McDonald House Mobile, shared his gratitude for their efforts, noting that the advocacy, generosity, and compassion of local members helped turn an idea into a service that will benefit families for years to come.

In closing, President George spoke directly to the women whose service made the day possible.

“To our Philoptochos sisters, here in Alabama and across the country, this is your love in motion,” she said. “Every gift, every fundraiser, every act of service made this day possible.”

The Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society, Inc. is the philanthropic arm of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. With over 90 years of experience, Philoptochos has served communities in need through fundraising and charitable programs. The Society includes more than 400 active chapters nationwide. Learn more at www.philoptochos.org.

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Fr. John Chryssavgis, Archdeacon of the Ecumenical Throne and Executive Director of the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at HCHC, participated in an international conference organized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chantilly, France, from October 5–8, 2026, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, held in Crete in June 2016.

The conference brought together scholars and representatives from Orthodox Autocephalous Churches to reflect on the Council’s decisions, documents, reception, and continuing significance for the life of the Orthodox Church.

Fr. John chaired a special panel devoted to the reception of the Council of Crete and the development of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s social document, For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church, published in 2020. The panel featured presentations by Rev. Dr. Nicolas Kazarian (Commission member for the document), Rev. Dr. Dietmar Schon (author of two books on the document) and Rev. Dr. Stephanie Dietrich (Faith and Order moderator of the WCC).

Fr. John also participated in the conference’s concluding session, which offered an assessment of the Holy and Great Council and considered its prospects for the future. 

Drawing on his experience as Press Officer of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the Council of Crete and as facilitator of the Special Commission that produced the document, he addressed the relationship between the two, and between the principles of conciliarity and primacy in the Church.

Fr. John said the conciliar life of the Orthodox Church is “scarcely neat, rarely predictable, and hardly efficient,” because conciliarity “depends upon consensus rather than imposition, upon persuasion rather than domination.”

The Council of Crete, he said, offers a revealing example of this.

“Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew worked patiently and persistently with every Orthodox Autocephalous Church,” Fr. John said. “Yet patience did not mean passivity. His All-Holiness also knew when to stand firm: to uphold what had been agreed, to guide the completion of the documents, and ultimately to ensure that the Council actually took place.”

“The same pattern emerged with the document entitled For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church,” Fr. John continued. “Once again, the Ecumenical Patriarch encouraged consultation while maintaining direction.”

Now, For the Life of the World has generated translations in more than twenty languages, as well as articles, special journal issues, scholarly monographs, and international conferences. Interest that initially came largely from the ecumenical world, Fr. John said, is increasingly coming from within the Orthodox world. 

Describing how the two relate, Fr. John said the Council “asked what the Orthodox Church needs to say,” while the document “asked what those words mean for the life of the world.”

Fr. John then moved into a discussion of conciliarity and the Church’s future.

Recovering a genuine culture of conciliarity, he said, will require “patiently listening, humbly trusting, generously sacrificing, and sometimes boldly relinquishing inherited assumptions and entrenched habits.”

He urged the audience that we must acknowledge “we have largely lost the lived experience of conciliarity.”

“Synodality is not an event,” Fr. John said. “It is a culture. And culture, as Julien Green reminds us, “cannot be improvised.” It must be learned. It must be absorbed. It must be practiced.”

Fr. John also said Orthodox Christians should not fear the concept of primacy. 

“Synodality does not mean the absence of leadership,” he said. “Consensus does not mean paralysis. And communion does not mean that no one bears the responsibility to convene and coordinate, to guide and encourage, even—when necessary—to lead and insist.”

“We need the many; but we also need the one, the first. We need consultation; but we also need command,” Fr. John said. “We need consensus; but we also need courage.”

He concluded that the future of Orthodoxy does not lie in choosing between synodality and primacy, but in “recovering the proper relationship” between the two.

“The Orthodox Church will not become more conciliar by diminishing leadership; nor will leadership become more authentic by diminishing conciliarity,” Fr. John said. “Each requires the other. Each corrects the other. Each complements the other. And, at their best, each serves the communion of the Church.”

Fr. John closed by posing the question of “whether we can learn again how to walk together in the time and place we have been placed and entrusted by God.”

This, he suggested, is what conciliarity has meant all along.

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At the Phanar on Friday, September 11, 2026, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew welcomed a group of pilgrims who were journeying to Prousa and Nicaea as well as Constantinople, and elucidated for them the often-overlooked spiritual value and importance of making pilgrimages to holy sites.

“We believe,” His All-Holiness said, “that healthy religious tourism is never merely a leisure trip.” Pilgrims are not primarily tourists, and are not engaged in simple sightseeing: “The monuments themselves, which visitors enter,” His All-Holiness explained, “do not allow for that.”

His All-Holiness explained that such places do not allow for casual visiting, or draw the casual visitor into a more profound experience than he or she may have expected, because of the spiritual character of these sites, which remains uneffaced even in ruined churches and monasteries. The Orthodox attentiveness to the importance of creating a sacred space makes the experience of visiting these sites far more than just another tourist stop.

“The sanctity of the space of the churches and monasteries,” said the Ecumenical Patriarch, “the works of doxological art, the whole ethos and spirit of the place that houses or once housed a life dedicated to God — all of these transform the visitor into a pilgrim. Quickly, the superficial acquaintance with the monuments becomes a desire to partake in the truth of things, in the historical adventures of the Nation, which are inextricably bound to its Orthodox Christian identity, a participation in our wonderful traditions.”

His All-Holiness pointed out that “it is impossible to imagine that an Orthodox Christian enters a monastery without feeling the ‘good transformation,’ a spiritual upheaval, without sensing that he is in a sanctified place.”

This is because, he continued, “the monuments of our faith are not mere sights. They are places of divine presence, of prayer and supplication, of spiritual and psychic uplift. Everything there exhales a spiritual fragrance, creates compunction, radiates a mystical light, proclaims the beneficent presence and grace of the God of love. All our monuments and pilgrimage sites form a theological and cultural language that reveals the intangible heritage of the Nation, the Orthodox mindset, the truth of art, the priority of relationship, the ‘culture of the person.’”

Addressing the pilgrims, His All-Holiness charged them to be spiritually attentive as they continued on their journey: “On this pilgrimage journey of yours, you too will encounter this same ethos, this same spirit.” He explained why this was true even when the pilgrims visited ruins of ancient Christian sites: “Although the outward ‘grandeur’ of the Nation no longer exists among our monuments, the eternal present of Truth remains. And even if today we no longer find our once-flourishing communities in the sacred Asia Minor land, nor the charitable institutions, parishes, and monasteries, we find everywhere the imprint of Romiosyni, its indelible traces and its seal, bearing witness to and proclaiming a presence of centuries, and granting vital revelations to all pilgrims, however many times they come to this incomparable place.” Romiosyni, or “Romanness,” refers to the religion, culture, and indomitable spirit of the Greek-speaking Christian population of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire.

His All-Holiness spoke movingly about the spiritual power of these pilgrimage destinations: “It is characteristic that the footsteps of devout pilgrims are drawn to our monuments, as if pulled by a holy force. And when the pilgrims arrive, they taste the waters of eternity, hear unspeakable words, undergo an inner renewal, and feel as though, after a long absence in a foreign land, they have returned to their ancestral home. It is the grace of God, a living and life-giving presence, at work. And the icons that remain in our pilgrimage sites, even if defaced by a profane human hand, express intact the divine loving-kindness, our faith in its entirety, our hope unadulterated.”

Speaking personally, His All-Holiness added: “I declare, before you as well, that with the help of the all-merciful God, as long as I live and breathe, I will not cease to come as a humble suppliant and pilgrim to the divine dwelling-places of the Church and of the Nation in Asia Minor, Mother of Saints, in Pontus, in Eastern Thrace. When we celebrate the Holy Services in our restored or ruined churches, we feel that the souls of our devout ancestors, who rest in this holy soil and await the resurrection of the dead, leap and rejoice together with us, chanting together ‘Christ is Risen’ and ‘Glory to God in the Highest.’ What the pilgrims feel here is not mere emotion and compunction. It is a revelation of divine majesty and compassion.”

His All-Holiness emphasized the responsibility of parents and teachers to impress upon youth the importance of Orthodox traditions: “When we address parents and teachers, we always urge them to teach the new generation the traditions and values of the Nation, so that it may not forget its roots and may feel proud of the most precious things it has inherited from its ancestors. We rejoice when we welcome, here in the City and in the unforgotten homelands, young men and women, always with the certainty that even those who came as visitors will become pilgrims, that the journey will become a sacred pilgrimage.”

May we feel the same pride in the precious gift of our Holy Orthodox Faith, and its foremost exponent today, our beloved Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Original article here.

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Fr. John Chryssavgis, Archdeacon of the Ecumenical Throne and Executive Director of the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at HCHC, participated in an international conference organized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chantilly, France, from October 5–8, 2026, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, held in Crete in June 2016.

The conference brought together scholars and representatives from Orthodox Autocephalous Churches to reflect on the Council’s decisions, documents, reception, and continuing significance for the life of the Orthodox Church.

Fr. John chaired a special panel devoted to the reception of the Council of Crete and the development of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s social document, For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church, published in 2020. The panel featured presentations by Rev. Dr. Nicolas Kazarian (Commission member for the document), Rev. Dr. Dietmar Schon (author of two books on the document) and Rev. Dr. Stephanie Dietrich (Faith and Order moderator of the WCC).

Fr. John also participated in the conference’s concluding session, which offered an assessment of the Holy and Great Council and considered its prospects for the future. 

Drawing on his experience as Press Officer of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the Council of Crete and as facilitator of the Special Commission that produced the document, he addressed the relationship between the two, and between the principles of conciliarity and primacy in the Church.

Fr. John said the conciliar life of the Orthodox Church is “scarcely neat, rarely predictable, and hardly efficient,” because conciliarity “depends upon consensus rather than imposition, upon persuasion rather than domination.”

The Council of Crete, he said, offers a revealing example of this.

“Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew worked patiently and persistently with every Orthodox Autocephalous Church,” Fr. John said. “Yet patience did not mean passivity. His All-Holiness also knew when to stand firm: to uphold what had been agreed, to guide the completion of the documents, and ultimately to ensure that the Council actually took place.”

“The same pattern emerged with the document entitled For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church,” Fr. John continued. “Once again, the Ecumenical Patriarch encouraged consultation while maintaining direction.”

Now, For the Life of the World has generated translations in more than twenty languages, as well as articles, special journal issues, scholarly monographs, and international conferences. Interest that initially came largely from the ecumenical world, Fr. John said, is increasingly coming from within the Orthodox world. 

Describing how the two relate, Fr. John said the Council “asked what the Orthodox Church needs to say,” while the document “asked what those words mean for the life of the world.”

Fr. John then moved into a discussion of conciliarity and the Church’s future.

Recovering a genuine culture of conciliarity, he said, will require “patiently listening, humbly trusting, generously sacrificing, and sometimes boldly relinquishing inherited assumptions and entrenched habits.”

He urged the audience that we must acknowledge “we have largely lost the lived experience of conciliarity.”

“Synodality is not an event,” Fr. John said. “It is a culture. And culture, as Julien Green reminds us, “cannot be improvised.” It must be learned. It must be absorbed. It must be practiced.”

Fr. John also said Orthodox Christians should not fear the concept of primacy. 

“Synodality does not mean the absence of leadership,” he said. “Consensus does not mean paralysis. And communion does not mean that no one bears the responsibility to convene and coordinate, to guide and encourage, even—when necessary—to lead and insist.”

“We need the many; but we also need the one, the first. We need consultation; but we also need command,” Fr. John said. “We need consensus; but we also need courage.”

He concluded that the future of Orthodoxy does not lie in choosing between synodality and primacy, but in “recovering the proper relationship” between the two.

“The Orthodox Church will not become more conciliar by diminishing leadership; nor will leadership become more authentic by diminishing conciliarity,” Fr. John said. “Each requires the other. Each corrects the other. Each complements the other. And, at their best, each serves the communion of the Church.”

Fr. John closed by posing the question of “whether we can learn again how to walk together in the time and place we have been placed and entrusted by God.”

This, he suggested, is what conciliarity has meant all along.

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