The Orthodox Church Info blog reports today (September 2, 2011) that religious leaders of the Orthodox Christian world met yesterday at the Fener Greek Patriarchate in Istanbul.
The Divine Liturgy yesterday morning was conducted by the Greek Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. The ceremony was attended by the patriarchs of Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria, while Archbishop Hristostomos II of the Greek Cypriot Orthodox Church -- known for his strong political statements regarding Turkey -- also partook in the ceremony.
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia -- Russia's top religious leader -- was not invited to the Liturgy , according to sources with the Ecumenical Patriarchate (EP).
Much tension currently exists between the Fener Greek Patriarchy and Russian religious authorities. The Russian Orthodox Church -- representing some 200 million Orthodox Christians -- could become the epicenter of world Orthodoxy, unless the Fener Greek Patriarchate gains the ecumenical title.
Because Russia has more Orthodox Christians than all of the other nations in the world combined, it feels Moscow should have a much more important leadership role -- including being the ecumenical headquarters -- of the Orthodox Church.
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