A Pan-Orthodox Council opens in Istanbul

The official opening of the Pan-Orthodox Council took place this morning at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Holy Protomartyr George the Victorer.

The Russian Orthodox Church is represented at the Council by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad. He is accompanied by Bishop Mark of Yegorievsk, Archpriest Nikolay Balashov and Mr. S. Govorum of the DECR.

On May 24, 2005, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Monastery of Our Lady the Life-Giving Source in Istanbul on the occasion of his name day.

Among the worshippers were His Beatitude Savva, Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland, Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima (Patriarchate of Constantinople) and Bishop Mark of Yegorievsk.

After the liturgy, Metropolitan Savva extended congratulations to Metropolitan Kirill on the day of his patron saint, expressing him wishes of long and fruitful ministry for the benefit of the Church of God.

Congratulations to Metropolitan Kirill were also offered by His Holiness Bartholomaios, Patriarch of Constantinople, His Beatitude Theodore II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, His Beatitude Christodoulos, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, and other primates and representatives of the Orthodox Church who came to Constantinople for the Pan-Orthodox Council.

See also:

• A delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church set off for a Pan-Orthodox Council in Constantinople