Всеправославният събор – свидетелство за единството и проблемите на православието. Православната църква – общност от църкви
The Orthodox Ecumenical Council – a Testimony of the Unity and Problems of Orthodoxy. Orthodox Church – Community of Churches

Summary/Abstract: The Orthodox Church is a communion of about 15 autocephalous Orthodox churches, their unity basing on equal faith, equal rules of functioning and equal Divine Liturgy. An expression of the collective will of the authorities of the Orthodox churches have been the ecumenical councils held since the very beginnings of Christianity. By the end of the Ottoman period the balance of the powers within Orthodoxy had considerably changed, so new forms of unified action seemed indispensable. Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople, who held this post in the period 1948-1972, came to voice the general opinion and confidence within the Orthodox Church by the mid-20th century, that the institution needed to return to its vitally necessary practice of holding ecumenical councils and suggested the launch of preparations for the convocation of a new one. The ecumenical meetings and consultations organized to this purpose have continued to date. The problems related to the inner structure of the Church, involving the questions of autocephaly and diptychs, proved, quite paradoxically, the toughest issues in the relations among the Orthodox churches, and practically the most difficult to resolve.

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