We accept the same Nicene Creed, we recognize each other's priestly and episcopal ordinations, as well as the sacraments of baptism, confession and Eucharist.

Catholic and Orthodox teaching on morals are also quite compatible, with both being more conservative than their Protestant colleagues.

The touchy issue has always been the role of the papacy, but Pope John Paul II invited a worldwide dialogue on this topic, showing that the Vatican is open to a less intrusive role for the pope in the Eastern churches than in the West.

There were even attempts to resurrect the title of patriarch of the West for the bishop of Rome, in order to distinguish his robust role in the Western church from his role in the East.

Rome is very much interested in improved relations with the Orthodox. It is deferential to Orthodox feelings.

For example, the pope will not visit a country where a majority of the population is Orthodox without an invitation from the Orthodox church.

An invitation from the political leadership is not sufficient.

Rome has constantly reached out to the Orthodox churches, especially to the patriarchs of Constantinople and Moscow.

Relations with the patriarch of Constantinople have improved significantly since the Jerusalem meeting of Pope Paul VI with Patriarch Athenagoras in 1964 and lifting of mutual excommunications in 1965.

Popes and the ecumenical patriarch meet so frequently that it is now hardly newsworthy.

It took much longer for a pope to meet with the Russian patriarch, which finally occurred in Cuba last year.

The meeting between Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow was probably as much a reward to the pope for his opposition to President Barack Obama's threat to bomb Syria as it was a show of ecumenical progress. Continue reading

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter article by Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese, a senior analyst for NCR and author of Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church.
• Image: Catholic World Report

The council could lead to closer ties to the Roman Catholic Church.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I fears that some churches are too isolated from each other and the outer world.

Speaking to a summit in Istanbul, he said the council must find a way to help Orthodox churches resolve their differences.

It must also help them work more as one church rather than many, he said.

"Unless the Orthodox Church places its own house in order, it would be unable to address the world with authority and validity," he said.

He mentioned "relations with non-Orthodox Christians" as a topic to be debated before the council, but gave no specifics.

Patriarch Bartholomew will meet Pope Francis in Jerusalem in May.

The council, officially called the Holy and Great Synod, will take place in Istanbul's Hagia Irene.

This is a former Byzantine church in a courtyard of Topkapi Palace, the home of the Ottoman sultans.

One of the main questions facing the 2016 council will be how to balance relations among the Orthodox Churches.

The Russian church, after seven decades of subjugation under communism, has re-emerged as an influential voice in world Christianity.

A communique from the patriarchs stressed that all decisions at the council would be taken by consensus.

This is a position the Russians strongly defended in preparations for the meeting.

The patriarchs also called for "peaceful negotiations and prayerful reconciliation in the ongoing crisis in Ukraine".

They adenounced what they said were "threats of violent occupation of sacred monasteries and churches" there.

On the Middle East, the patriarchs denounced "the lack of peace and stability, which is prompting Christians to abandon the land where our Lord Jesus Christ was born".

Sources:

• The Tablet
• Huffington Post
• Image: archons.org

"We want Santa Sofia to remain a museum. It was a Christian church for over 1000 years," Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople has said. "If it is to be reconsecrated, then it should go back to being a Christian church, since it was not built to be a mosque."

The basilica, completed in 537, became a mosque in 1453 with the Ottoman conquest and was made a museum in 1935.

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Such a move would bar thousands of pilgrims and visitors from the church that is considered to be the most holy Christian shrine on earth.

Already the Israeli company that supplies water to the property has frozen the bank account of the Greek Orthodox Church, which has the major ownership rights to the church. Ownership is shared with Catholics and Armenian Orthodox, while Coptic Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox an Ethiopian Orthodox have rights to use some parts.

The Greek Orthodox say they are now unable to pay stipends and salaries for some 500 priests and the 2000 teachers in its 30 schools. Cheques have bounced for services such as telephones, electricity and food.

For more than a century the Church of the Holy Sepulchre operated without paying for water under successive Ottoman, British mandate, Jordanian and Israeli governments. Then in 1996 the Jerusalem municipality handed its water supply to a corporation called Hagihon Inc.

In 2004 Hagihon sent the church a bill for 3.7 million shekels ($NZ1.1 million). Officials at the church, thinking it was a mistake, ignored it and Hagihon did not press for payment.

Earlier this year Hagihon sent a revised demand for 9 million shekels, covering seven years plus interest on the unpaid debt.

The two sides began negotiations, assisted by representatives of government departments and the municipality. According to the Greek Orthodox patriarchate, an agreement appeared likely when Hagihon suddenly enforced a court order to freeze the patriarchate's bank account.

The patriarchate has written to Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and president, Shimon Peres, for support. It also plans to approach Russian president Vladimir Putin, United States president Barack Obama, King Abdullah of Jordan and the prime ministers of Greece and Cyprus.

Hagihon says it is prohibited by the Israeli Water Authority from giving any party an exemption from water charges.

Sources:

Associated Press

The Independent

The Guardian

Image: Seetheholyland.net