Serbian hierarch: Patriarch Irinej asked Head of Phanar not to cause split

Bishop Ioann, temporary сhancellor of the Beglrad-Karlovac Archdiocese of the SOC. Photo: screenshot of the video from Televizije Hram YouTube channel

Patriarch Irinej of Serbia requested the head of the Patriarchate of Constantinople not to interfere in Ukraine, warning about his responsibility for the inevitbale schism. Bishop Ioann (Mladenovic), temporary сhancellor of the Beglrad-Karlovac Archdiocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church, spoke about this in an interview on December 17, 2020.

The story of the Serbian bishop was quoted by Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, Deputy Department for External Church Relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, on his Telegram channel.

“When the Patriarch pled the Ecumenical Patriarch at a personal meeting not to interfere in Ukraine, not to cause split, Bartholomew would not listen to him, to which the Serbian Patriarch said, ‘You will bear full responsibility for what is going to happen. And I am afraid you may be left alone on the Bosphorus’," the UOC spokesman said.

As the UOJ reported earlier, the ROC recalled that Phanar supported the Renovationist split in the twentieth century.

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