Pan-Orthodox Holy Synod in 2016

March 10, 2013 - Patriarchs of the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians ended a rare summit in Istanbul, Turkey, on Sunday calling for a peaceful end to the crisis in Ukraine and denouncing violence driving Christians out of the Middle East. Twelve heads of autonomous Orthodox Churches, the second-largest family of Christian Churches after the 1.2-billion-member Catholic Church, also agreed to hold the "sacred and great" pan-Orthodox Synod, a summit of bishops, or ecumenical council, in 2016, which will be the first in over 1,200 years. 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.