International Conference in France Marks Ten Years Since the Holy and Great Council
From October 5 to 8, 2026, the town of Chantilly, just outside Paris, hosted an international scientific conference convened by the Ecumenical Patriarchate to mark ten years since the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church met at the Orthodox Academy of Crete in June 2016.
The conference, titled "The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church (2016–2026): Assessment and Prospects," opened on the Monday afternoon with a welcome from Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, who chaired the gathering, followed by an opening address from Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Over the following three days, nine thematic sessions revisited the Council's Encyclical and Message and its specific decisions on the Orthodox Diaspora, relations with other Christian communions, the granting of autonomy, marriage, fasting, and the Church's mission and social witness in the contemporary world.
Speakers and delegates came from the Ecumenical Patriarchate itself and from the Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania, the Churches of Cyprus and Greece, and the autonomous Orthodox Churches of Finland and Estonia, alongside observers from the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and the World Council of Churches. That delegate list carries its own quiet significance: Antioch and Bulgaria were two of the four Autocephalous Churches that stayed away from the Council itself in 2016 — the other two, Russia and Georgia, were not listed among this conference's participants. Archbishop John of Albania — whose Church did take part in 2016 — also attended, at his own request, a detail more than one outlet covering the gathering noted without further explanation. A closing round table on Thursday brought together Archbishop John, Metropolitan Job of Pisidia, Fr. John Chryssavgis, Prof. Theodoros Giagkou, and Carol Saba, chaired again by Metropolitan Emmanuel, to weigh what the Council accomplished and what still remains unresolved for Orthodox unity a decade on.
Read the Ecumenical Patriarchate's own program and full report: International Scientific Conference: The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church (2016–2026).
A short glossary, for readers less familiar with these terms
- Holy and Great Council (Crete, 2016) — the first pan-Orthodox council convened in over a thousand years, attended by ten of the fourteen autocephalous Orthodox Churches, which issued an Encyclical and Message addressing the Church's mission and witness in the contemporary world.
- Autocephalous Church — a self-governing Orthodox Church that elects its own head bishop (Patriarch or Archbishop) and is not subject to the authority of another Church.
- Ecumenical Patriarchate — the historic see of Constantinople, which holds a place of honor among the Orthodox Churches and convened both the 2016 Council and this anniversary conference.
- Orthodox Diaspora — Orthodox Christian communities living outside the traditional territories of their home Churches; one of the specific topics the 2016 Council addressed and this conference revisited.
© Portal Pascha. This is original content — please share by linking to this page rather than reposting the full text elsewhere.