The Council of the Primates of Orthodox Churches (the Eighth Ecumenical) will be held in June 2016 on the Greek island Crete, or more precisely, in the Orthodox Academy in Kolymbari. It will begin on June 19, the day of Pentecost, and run until 27 June.

«Council will not take place in Istanbul. The view of the Russian Orthodox Church had been taken into account. We have suggested Athos or Rhodes, or even some other place, but the Patriarch of Constantinople proposed Crete», Kirill, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, told reporters at the end of his stay in Chambésy (Switzerland), where there was a meeting of heads of the Orthodox Churches, dedicated to the preparation of the Pan-Orthodox Council.

As Patriach Kirill noted, this Greek island falls under the jurisdiction of  the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the place is proposed for «having the most favorable conditions, a room for four hundred people, living rooms, also a lot of conferences of different kind, including theological are held in Crete».

May, 2016