Ecumenical Patriarchate Appoints Hierarchs to Oversee Metropolitan Elections in Crete

Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon. Photo: Vatican News

ISTANBUL — On January 9, 2026, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate convened under the presidency of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and adopted a series of decisions addressing ecclesiastical governance and administration, the Orthodox Times reported.

Among its resolutions, the Synod appointed Metropolitans Elder Emmanuel of Chalcedon and Arsenios of Austria to travel to Crete for the initiation of the process to elect new Metropolitans for the vacant Metropolises of Kydonia and Apokoronas, and Lambis, Syvritos, and Sfakia. The appointments were made in response to a formal request from the Holy Provincial Synod of the Church of Crete, seeking the canonical supplementation of its membership in order to proceed with the elections. Deacon Oikoumenios, Undersecretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod, was designated to serve as secretary for the process.

During the same session, the Synod approved the draft “Regulation on the Administration of Ecclesiastical Justice for Hierarchs,” prepared by the competent committee.

The meeting also included the formal announcements (Mega Minima) of the newly elected Bishop of Elaia, Bartholomew, and the newly elected Bishop of Sinope, Ambrosios, who received congratulations and best wishes from the Ecumenical Patriarch, the assembled hierarchs, and members of the Patriarchal Court.

Previously, UOJ reported on a conversation between Greece's former defense minister and a mafia leader where it was said that the election of a bishop "depends only on the Americans."

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