Hierarch of Jerusalem Church: Entire Christian world loves Primate of UOC

Metropolitan Timotheos (Margaritis) of Bostra. Photo: Information and Education Centre of the UOC

On the occasion of the Heavenly Patron's Day of the UOC Primate, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, hierarch of the Jerusalem Church Metropolitan Timotheos (Margaritis) congratulated His Beatitude and emphasized that the entire Christian world loves and respects him, reported the website of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC.

“The exceptional pastoral qualities and virtues that adorn you have gone beyond the borders of the local Ukrainian Orthodox Church across the entire Christian world, where you are respected, loved and trusted. The proof of the above is our shared Eucharistic unity today,” said Metropolitan Timotheos to the Primate of the UOC.

His Eminence Timotheos said that the Jerusalem Church in the person of its Primate, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III of the Holy City of Jerusalem and All Palestine mourns over the religious conflict in Ukraine.

“The Jerusalem Church, as the authentic Mother of all other Churches, represented by its Primate, Patriarch Theophilos III of the Holy City of Jerusalem and All Palestine, deplores the events that occurred here in Ukraine and prays at the holy shrine of the Holy Land, along with members of the Holy Tomb Brotherhood, that the Lord would bestow upon your Beatitude wisdom, spiritual and physical fortitude to stand with patience in the way of the truth, protecting the purity of the Orthodox faith and continuous apostolic succession, and thereby save the believers from the offence of this world in this holy Ukrainian land which became the cradle of Christianization of all Russian-speaking territories," said the hierarch of the Jerusalem Church.

He compared the head of the UOC with the prophet Jonah and noted that Metropolitan Onuphry worthily bears the name of his Heavenly patron, Venerable Onuphrius the Great.

“On behalf of His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos, whom I represent, and on my own behalf, I extend to Your Beatitude my most heartfelt congratulations on these happy holidays: your name day and your birthday anniversary. We pray that our Archpastor Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and the Divine Founder of the Church, will grant you a long-term and peaceful life, health, salvation and well-meaning success, and save you for many good years,” he concluded.

Recall, Metropolitan Timotheos arrived in Kiev for celebrations on the occasion of the Heavenly Patron's Day of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry among the representatives of 11 Local Orthodox Churches. On June 26, 2019, in the assembly hall of the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, he gave a lecture "The Church of Jerusalem: the role of the Mother of Churches in Orthodoxy," which was freely accessible.

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