A meeting of three Orthodox church leaders in Istanbul has removed obstacles to a council that would involve most of the world’s Orthodox churches. The patriarchs discussed the plight of Christian minorities in the Middle East but also made agreements that pave the way for the first pan-Orthodox council in centuries. Many Orthodox churches are centred in difficult areas of the world, like the Middle East where there is revolution and persecution, or Russia and Eastern Europe where economic and social challenges remain. Patriarch Bartholemew of Constantinople, Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria and Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem, meeting with Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus and a representative of Patriarch Ignatius of Antioch, ‘all expressed the readiness to proceed to the pan-Orthodox council’.
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