In 1969 the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece went looking for the right home for such a centre. It chose the Monastery of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in Penteli, judging the mountain monastery the most fitting place to host gatherings of the Orthodox world. The choice carried meaning. Rather than build a conference hall in the city, the Church planted its centre for dialogue inside a living community of prayer, so that the work of negotiation and discussion would unfold against the rhythm of monastic worship. The inauguration in 1971 was marked with festive events, and the centre has belonged to the Synod ever since.

The centre answers to the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece and is chaired by the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, Hieronymos II, the senior figure in the Greek Orthodox Church. Its day-to-day direction falls to Metropolitan Ioannes of Thermopylae. The facilities are modest and practical rather than grand: a lecture room for sessions, a library for study, and accommodation that includes rooms, apartments, a kitchen, and a dining room, everything a delegation needs to stay for the length of a symposium. In 2003 and 2004 the whole centre was fully renovated and expanded to handle larger gatherings.

The centre's purpose is to tighten the bonds among Orthodox churches scattered across the world. It does this by organizing and hosting conventions, symposiums, seminars, workshops, and visits, the slow machinery of religious diplomacy. But its remit reaches beyond the Orthodox family. The centre works to engage the questions raised by a contemporary, multicultural society, opening conversation with other Orthodox and non-Orthodox churches, with other Christian confessions, and with other religious traditions entirely. In a faith often defined by ancient continuity, this is the room where Orthodoxy meets the present and talks it through.