Metropolitan Hilarion on the Pentarchy

In an interview Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk has reaffirmed his belief that preparations for a general council of the Local Orthodox Churches will continue and also noted the purely secular origins of the pentarchy, the ranking of the five (now four) ancient patriarchates in the Mediterranean world above the other Local Orthodox Churches that have been established after them, and of the notion of Moscow as a 'Third Rome' that has been popular in Russia. More here.

Yours truly is naturally hopeful that the ideal of the Third Rome will be abandoned by the Russian Orthodox Church so that the Fourth Rome can take its rightful place in world Orthodoxy ;-). And, of course, 'a fifth there shall not be'...

Diptychs Remain Controversial at Chambesy

To no one's surprise, the issue of the diptychs is the most contentious currently being discussed and Chambesy, with some advocating a single list, others advocating each church having its own list and ranking it as it sees fit, and still others focusing on jockeying for the sixth place in the current diptychs after the pentarchy of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Moscow. More here.