The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, His All Holiness Bartholomew I, on the Monday of the Holy Trinity referred to 2016’s Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, which was held on the island of Crete during the same feast day that year, in his statements after the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity of the Stavrodromi district in the Bosporus metropolis.
The Ecumenical Patriarch pointed out that despite the absence of four Autocephalous Orthodox Churches during the Pan-Orthodox summit of 2016, unity was nevertheless promoted and embellished.
His All Holiness cited what he called the “last-minute” absence of the four Autocephalous Churches, which he said “…did not honor their signature, nor did they respect the efforts of their representatives and sacrifices over past decades, which all Orthodox Churches made.”