Head of Phanar: Some Churches do not understand an age-old canonical order

Patriarch Bartholomew. Photo: TSN

There are Churches that do not appreciate a fraternal attitude towards them on the part of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the Ukrainian church issue proves this fact. This was announced by Patriarch of Bartholomew of Constantinople during his meeting with teachers and students of the Athoniada school in Karyaes on Athos, ORTHODOXIA.INFO reports.

“Its interests (of the Ecumenical Patriarchate – Ed.), its care, its tenderness, its prayer for children are spreading worldwide, besides, as you know, it embraces all Orthodoxy. As far as it depends on us, Phanar, we do our best for the sake of pan-Orthodox unity and cooperation,” said the patriarch.

At the same time, he emphasized that “unfortunately, there are other Churches that do not appreciate this fraternal relationship of ours.”

“This is evidenced by the fact that four Autocephalous Churches did not come to the Holy and Great Synod (Cretan Council of 2016 – Ed.) – a milestone in the history of our Church. And the recent Ukrainian church issue once again demonstrated how reluctant they are to cooperate with the Mother See and how reluctantly they understand and apply the canonical order that has existed in our Orthodox Church for centuries, starting from the era of Ecumenical Councils, the first centuries of Christianity,” the head of the Patriarchate of Constantinople declared.

Recall that the Cretan Council, which took place in June 2016, was held without the participation of the Russian, Georgian, Antioch and Bulgarian Churches uniting more than half of all Orthodox Christians in the world.

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