Patriarch Kirill for the first time does not mention head of Greek Church

Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’. Photo: YouTube

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ did not mention the head of the Greek Church during a Sunday service at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, meaning that Eucharistic communion with the archbishop of Athens has been stopped, reports “RIA Novosti” on its pages.

The name of the current archbishop of Athens has been removed from the diptych (the order in which archbishops are mentioned during a religious service) of the Russian Orthodox Church.

At the same time, members of the Synod decided to maintain prayer communion with those Greek bishops who spoke out against the recognition of the OCU but to cease it with those who recognized the new church structure recently created in Ukraine.

We recall that on October 17, 2019, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church issued an official statement regarding the Church of Greece. In it, members of the Synod warned that if the Primate of the Church of Greece,  Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece, begins to commemorate the head of the OCU Epiphany Dumenko, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ will be forced to stop commemorating Archbishop Ieronymos himself.

Later, the head of the OCU Epiphany Dumenko received a peace missive from the Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens and All Greece. In his letter, the Primate of the Church of Greece said that in December 2018, he received “with joy” the letters about the “canonical election” of Epiphany. In response, he sent congratulations to the head of the OCU on behalf of his entire Church. Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece wished the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church “to completely lift up from the Church of Ukraine the commotion which disturbed Her destroying Her unity, and to fully restore in the Church peace, tranquility, and sustainability for God’s sake and the entire oikumena of Orthodoxy”.

After that, the Greek hierarchs announced their intention to initiate the discussion of the “Ukrainian church issue” at the Pan-Orthodox Council, even without the participation of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

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