Patriarch Bartholomew: Ukrainian nation waited for Tomos for 700 years

Patriarch Bartholomew's meeting with the delegation of OCU. Photo: OCU

On July 12, 2019, the OCU delegation visited Istanbul, where it met with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the OCU website reports.

The delegation included the deputy head of the OCU DECR, "archbishop" Hilarion Protsik, "archimandrites" Kirion Inasaridze and Onufry Kryshka.

During the meeting, which was reportedly held “in a fraternal atmosphere”, the OCU members assured the head of the Constantinople Patriarchate “in deep love and respect for the Mother Church”.

Patriarch Bartholomew noted that the Ukrainian people had been looking forward to the Tomos for seven centuries and had every right to appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarchate for its granting.

It was exactly this year that historical justice was restored, which the Ukrainians had been seeking for many years – the OCU received the Tomos on autocephaly, said the head of the Church of Constantinople.

At the end of the meeting, Patriarch Bartholomew wished the delegation members "good and fruitful service for the benefit of the Ukrainian people".

Earlier, Petro Poroshenko, speaking at Phanar on January 5, 2019, said that Ukrainians had been waiting for the Tomos for thousands of years. Later, the OCU reported on "a thousand-year desire of Ukrainians to have ecclesiastical independence".

Recall that from the thousand-year history of the Church in the territory of modern Ukraine, it was a regular metropolis of the Patriarchate of Constantinople for about 700 years and part of the Russian Orthodox Church for 300 years.

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