The most senior leaders of the Orthodox Church are meeting together today in Istanbul.

According to Asianews Catholic news service, it is the first time in years that all of the leading patriarchs of the Orthodox Church have assembled together.

The meeting is taking place in honor of the 2000th anniversary of the birth of St. Paul, who was born in Tarsus which lies in present-day Turkey.

Internal tensions have arisen in recent years between Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, who is recognized as “the first among equals” of Orthodox patriarchs, and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II, head of the largest national church in the 300-million-member Orthodox Church.

The tensions center on recognition by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of a national church in Estonia that is not under the authority of the Russian church.

The Russian Orthodox Church regards Estonia as being part of its canonical territory and refuses to recognize the national church that is independent of its authority.

It instead recognizes a separate Estonian Orthodox Church that does acknowledge the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church.

— Tom McFeely