For many years, the Orthodox Church has been unable or unwilling to hold a pan-Orthodox Synod, which will have the mission of illuminating with the Gospel the major problems of a world that is constantly changing, and to face the new challenges. With the Seventh Ecumenical Council having taken place in 787, one is in awe if one considers what changes have taken place in the more than 1,200 years that have followed. During this time, the schism between Western and Eastern Christianity widened, the Eastern Empire fell, the Renaissance took place and the Enlightenment dawned, national states were formed, two World Wars took place, classical colonialism flourished and declined, totalitarian ideologies emerged, Orthodoxy was consolidated. diaspora" in the Western world, the intersections of the Second Vatican Council were made, the gallop of technology and the infinite reality of cyberspace were added to everyday life...

We hope that this many-paged effort of all the authors of this book will succeed in informing the people of God, fueling their judgment and sharpening their criteria in our difficult times. To sensitize everyone (clergy and non-clergy), so that the ecclesiastical body listens to the Spirit of God, responds and actually functions as a minister of the Life of the universe.

Written by: P. Kalaitzidis, T. Papathanasiou, M. Stavrou, P. G. Papathomas, G. Nachas, A. Arjakovsky, P. De Mey, J. Erickson, J. Famerée, T. Grdzelidze, B. Hallensleben, V .Khoulap, I. Noble, T. Pott, R. Preda, AM Reijnen, N. Ruffieux, P. Sollogoub

Editor: P. De Mey - M. Stavrou

Translation: Kaiti Chiotelli, Zoe Pliakou, Vassilis Argyriadis