Zoria: Pat. Bartholomew calls the creation of exarchate in Ukraine a fake

OCU delegation at the Phanar. Photo: OCU

Spokesperson for the OCU, Yevstratiy Zoria, stated that Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople rejected the possibility of the Phanar granting an exarchate to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). He shared this information in a comment to Glavcom.

Zoria reported that Patriarch Bartholomew categorically denied such rumors during a meeting with Metropolitan Epifaniy of the OCU at the Phanar residence. Zoria was also present at these talks.

"During the meeting in Constantinople, we addressed this issue because it had been frequently circulated as rumors in the press," said the spokesperson for the Dumenko structure. "The Patriarch was clear, direct, and unequivocal: it is 'fake news'. He used precisely this English expression. His reaction to it was really as if it were nonsense."

Earlier, Robert Amsterdam, head of the international human rights company Amsterdam & Partners LLP, sent an urgent message to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky about a campaign against the UOC and plans to ban it by the end of August, with subsequent incorporation into the OCU through the Constantinople Patriarchate. Amsterdam claimed that these plans are being developed secretly and are based on documents allegedly created by members of the President's Office administration.

As reported by the UOJ, in 2019, the head of the restored Kyiv stavropegia was appointed. Archimandrite Michael (Anischenko) was designated as the head of the Constantinople Patriarchate's stavropegia in Kyiv.

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