![The contribution of the Patriarchate of Romania at the beginning of preparation of the Holy and Great Council
of the Orthodox Church (1902-1932)](/api/image/getbookcoverimage?id=document_cover-page-image_1104747.jpg)
The contribution of the Patriarchate of Romania at the beginning of preparation of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church (1902-1932)
The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church is admittedly one of the most important Orthodox ecclesiastical events of the 21st cent. The Council’s 2016 convening was finally made possible after a very long and arduous preparatory process of circa 93 years, in which process the Patriarchate of Romania appears to have played an important and constructive role. In fact, the Church of Romania, in 1920, shortly before the official preparation begins, dispatched Prof. Dragomir Demetrescu to the Ecumenical Patriarchate with the mandate to exchange views on the possibility of convoking a “Council of the Orthodox Churches”, and to propose potential issues to be considered in such a Council. Since then, the Church of Romania has responded positively to all the relevant invitations of the Great Church of Constantinople and participated constructively in all the preparatory bodies and phases of the Holy and Great Council, while the Romanian Primates - from Patriarch Myron to Patriarch Daniel - demonstrated a profound synodical awareness and fought devotedly for the unity and cooperation of the Orthodox Churches. The current article has a double scope: on the one hand, it presents the historical contribution of the Patriarchate of Romania at the beginning of preparation of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, and on the other hand, it attempts to evaluate it.
More...