Talks of UOC delegation with Pat. Bartholomew are under way in Istanbul

Negotiations between the delegation of the UOC and Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople

Representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church came for an official audience on June 23, reports the Information and Educational Department of the UOC.

The delegation includes Metropolitans Hilarion of Donetsk and Mariupol, Theodore of Kamenets-Podolsky and Gorodok, Anthony of Borispol and Brovary, Deputy Chairman of the DECR Protopriest Nikolai Danilevich.

Before the meeting, the members of the delegation visited the Hagia Sophia Cathedral, where they prayed for peace in Ukraine. Then the delegation went to Phanar, where the official residence of the Patriarch of Constantinople is located.

In the patriarchal Church of St. George the Victorious, the bishops of the UOC venerated the miraculous icons and relics of the three saints and prayed for peace in Ukraine.

Before the meeting, Patriarch Bartholomew read a prayer, and members of the delegation began negotiations. The Patriarch of Constantinople greeted the delegation of the UOC and introduced the negotiators: Metropolitan John of Pergamon, Metropolitan Emmanuel of Galli, Metropolitan Bartholomew of Smyrna, as well as the Patriarchate staff.

Metropolitan Agafangel, as head of the delegation of the UOC, warmly greeted Patriarch Bartholomew, conveyed best wishes from His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine and thanked for the warm welcome and the opportunity to discuss important, pressing issues in the affairs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Negotiations are under way.

Earlier, MP Vadim Novinsky said that the Patriarch of Constantinople would never support the request of politicians for autocephaly, since this would entail a division in the whole Orthodoxy.

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