From my POV this looks mostly like a fluff piece. But it can be informative to the non-Orthodox, who I am guessing is the primary intended reader. Yes, we are going to have a Great and Holy Council next year and it has produced both yawns and some nervousness depending on who you are talking to.
It sounds like a major effort has been made to script things as tightly as possible. But once you get all those bishops in the church together there is no way to be sure what they will end up doing. If all goes well, it could end up being received as the Tenth Great and Holy Council of the Church.
(The term Ecumenical Council is problematic as many Orthodox believe that it can only be properly applied to councils whose decrees are given the force of law by Imperial Decree. Thus we have had nine Great Councils whose decrees are accepted as binding on the entire Church, but only seven are universally called Ecumenical Councils. But this is mostly semantics since their decrees all carry the same weight within the Church.)
“From my POV this looks mostly like a fluff piece. “
I know the author. This is not a fluff piece. He doesn’t write “fluff”.
Here’s something to think about:
“...planned to be held in the Church of Haghia Irene—the site of the second ecumenical council of 381, which completed the “creed” recited by most Christians today. Haghia Irene is now a museum in Istanbul, never having been converted into a mosque since the fall of Constantinople in 1453.”
Still, it is a good step (as an outsider). The topics discussed cover things like getting the calendars together (doubtful) and what to do with the diaspora churches.
I'd be surprised if many non-Orthodox had even heard about plans for the council, let alone the current significance of many of the subjects mentioned in the article.
(I am neither Orthodox nor someone who has any "obvious" reason to be familiar with Orthodox matters, but I've read a bit about religious matters here and there. At the same time, my experience isn't in-depth. For example, I realized upon reading "...most Orthodox Churches seem to be retreating into a stifling, sheltered and safe provincialism...." that I can't think of any specific examples of what he means.)