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| Second Council of Nicea - Sümela Monastery - Turkey |
On- March 10, 2013 -
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| Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew |
A Preparatory Commission
consisting of a bishop from each Church has been set up to prepare the
introductory documents. The Istanbul talks were called to decide on the
council, which the Orthodox have been preparing on and off since the 1960s, but
the Ukraine crisis overshadowed their talks at the office of Ecumenical
Patriarch Bartholomew, regarded as the spiritual leader of worldwide Orthodox
Christians. Orthodox Christianity links 14 independent churches, based in
Eastern Europe, Russia and the Middle East. The Damascus-based church of
Antioch and the Czech and Slovak Church did not attend the Istanbul meeting
because of disputes with other churches.
The Orthodox recognize seven Ecumenical Councils,
beginning with the Council of Nicaea in 325, which refuted Arianism, and ending
with the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, which restored the veneration of
icons and is the last Council to be accepted by both the Eastern and Western
Churches. Some Orthodox Christians also include two other meetings of Eastern
bishops as Councils, but most consider them local synods. The Western Church
recognizes 21 Councils, the most recent being the Second Vatican Council in
1962.
The 2016 council will be held in
Hagia Irene, a Byzantine church building in the outer courtyard of the Ottoman
sultans' Topkapi Palace. Now a museum, it has not been used as a church since
the Muslim conquest of Constantinople in 1453.
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| Hagia Irene, Topkpi Palace Istanbul |
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