As far as the life of the Orthodox Church itself was concerned, the conference carried out important work on the comprehension and clarification of its principles based on biblical sources, patristic heritage and traditional ecclesiology. We cannot, of course, reproduce here the list of issues discussed. It should be noted that the Commission on Faith, Dogma and Worship emphasized that Scripture is an expression of Revelation, and that it is necessary to distinguish Tradition (as a living perception of truth in the Holy Spirit) from church traditions of varying significance. The conference resolutely spoke out in favor of the implementation of a scientific edition of the Byzantine text of the New Testament. She spoke in favor of the Bible sounding more often and more intelligibly during divine services, so that the Gospel readings would be better distributed, as well as for the introduction of regular Old Testament readings (these readings, so common in the ancient Church, were pushed into the background because of the flourishing of hymnography). Finally, it raised the problem of returning to a wider participation of the laity in liturgical life and in the whole life of the Church in general.

The commissions that worked on the problems of "church administration and structure" and "the relations of the Orthodox Churches among themselves" expressed the wish that the election of bishops and primates would again be carried out in greater harmony with tradition, and that the local Churches should coordinate their actions with the universal Church. They touched upon the most important problems: church provinces, autocephalous Churches and "relations of autocephalous Churches with each other and with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in accordance with the canons and history."

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Another part of the conference's work, leaving aside the ecumenical relations discussed in the previous chapters, was devoted to the relations of Orthodoxy with the modern world (Commission on Orthodoxy and the World). Here they feared clashes between the Churches located on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain. But nothing of the kind happened. In the program of the pre-conciliar conference drawn up by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Russians added a mention of "the contribution of the Church to the strengthening of the ideals of peace and brotherhood of peoples," of "Orthodoxy and racial discrimination," and of "the duty of Christians in developing countries." They replaced "mission development" with "evangelical teaching," because the word "mission," they said, had become obsolete because of past "colonialist" abuses. Finally, after a stubborn struggle, they replaced the wording "methods of struggle against atheism" with the words "methods of spreading Orthodoxy in the world." This apt expression meant a change from a defensive position to a positive affirmation of faith.

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The conference revealed a sincere and unanimous desire to begin the process of preparing for the Council, the first stage of which should be a pre-conciliar conference. The final document, where the influence of the Ecumenical Patriarch is so felt, opens with the glorification of the Holy Trinity, for the Church is "the unity of love in the fulfillment of the new law," created "in the image of the unity of the Holy Trinity." "Our Church is not made of walls and roofs, but of faith and life." She prays "for people" created "of one blood" and for all Christians, "that they may be one." The epistle concludes with John's blessing: "May grace, mercy, and peace be with you from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love" (2 John 3).

Millennium

The millennium of the first monastery on Mount Athos, the Great Lavra, founded in 963, allowed Patriarch Athenagoras to grow the fruits of a renewed Orthodox brotherhood on this fateful land.

After the fall of the Byzantine Empire, Mount Athos took upon itself the spiritual service of unity and the witness to the universality of the Church. Monks constantly flowed here from all over the Orthodox world, where in turn Athonite missionaries, bearers of the Spirit and civilization, went. Only the revolutions of the 20th century, in 1917 in Russia, after the end of World War II in South-Eastern Europe, were able to interrupt this double flow.

The East, as we have said, expressed the institutional features of monasticism to a lesser extent than the West. In the East, various facets of the single spiritual path were revealed with greater freedom, beginning with community life, which is made up of psalmody, "apostolic love," and social service, up to the podvig of the unknown hermit, whose prayer embraces the whole world, and the Lord sometimes sends him to people in order to carry out the obedience of spiritual fatherhood and discernment of spirits.

Most importantly, Mount Athos has become a place of prophetic service for monks, a place where the Spirit knows no national boundaries: a hearth of Orthodox unity. Up until the fourteenth century, the Protos (first), lifelong chairman of the executive committee elected by the monks, was appointed by the emperor: a symbol of a culture that did not withdraw into itself and was not affirmed in anything human. From the fourteenth century onwards, Protos was appointed by the Ecumenical Patriarch, with whom Mount Athos bears witness to ecumenism. But in an unforeseen way it also becomes the leaven of culture (for history is sometimes fertilized by those who deny it for the sake of eternity) and the ark of Tradition.

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