On record: “Ukrainian issue” was not considered at Holy Kinot of Athos

A cross on the top of Mount Athos

The Holy Kinot of Holy Mount Athos, which was held on February 11, did not make any statements regarding the attitude to the church situation in Ukraine. It is reported by the Information and Education Department of the UOC.

Recall, on February 11, 2019, the meeting of the Holy Kinot was held, which was attended by representatives of all the monasteries of Athos. According to the info having been received by the UOC Information and Education Department directly from the Kinot, the “Ukrainian issue” was not raised at the meeting at all, it was not even put on the agenda.

Nevertheless, on the next day, February 12, the authoritative Greek edition Romfea published the information that the Kinot not only discussed the issue of the attitude of the Athos monasteries to the OCU, but also expressed its unified position. According to the Romfea, representatives of the monasteries of Athos allegedly supported the position of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in promoting the OCU and also declared protests "against the humiliation of Hellenism."

On February 13, the US Ambassador to Greece Jeffrey Payet (from 2013 to 2016 was the US ambassador to Ukraine) met with the leadership of Romfea, where the politician, in particular, told the reporters: “The US State Department backs the consolidation of free press, fight with fake news stories, and coverage of the values that we share with Orthodoxy and the Ecumenical Patriarch."

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