Metropolitan Emmanuel (Adamakis) of Chalcedon said that the immediate goal of the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue is the joint celebration of Easter, and this is a “first-order ecumenical issue,” Vatican news reports.

“The issues of joint celebration of Easter,” he stressed, “are gradually becoming an ecumenical issue of the first order. Indeed, how can we testify to the truth of the sacrament underlying the testimony of Christianity if we remain divided on this issue?”