Social networks wonder where the Phanar head got panagias made in UOC

Head of Phanar with panagias and a cross made in the UOC. Photo: pomisna.info

On August 22, 2021, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, during a joint service with Epiphany Dumenko on the territory of St. Sophia of Kyiv, used the insignia of bishop's dignity made in the UOC.

Archpriest Gennady Yelin, head of the office of the Zaporizhia diocese of the UOC, wrote about this on his Facebook page.

I mean two panagias (pectoral icons of the Mother of God) and a cross, produced in 2010 in a limited edition on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the late Metropolitan Vladimir (Sabodan).

Archpriest Gennady Yelin called the fact that the head of Phanar “does not recognize the UOC, but uses signs of hierarchical dignity as the Bartholomew circus.”

The priest wonders from whom exactly the head of Phanar received a personalized set, “if he was not present at the jubilee, when His Beatitude Vladimir made memorable gifts?”

“Mr. Drabinko is likely to continue to distribute what he ‘took as a keepsake’ from the Kyiv Metropolis, such as the Peresopnytsia Gospel,” the priest suggested.

He noted that “Bartholomew not only loves to steal churches, but has no qualms about church property, moreover, made by the UOC, which he does not recognize,” and added that “with this gesture, he only disgraces the memory of the man who headed the UOC for 20 years and never, anywhere, did not speak publicly on autocephaly, on the contrary, he considered the current status of the UOC not just acceptable, but optimal."

In turn, the former Metropolitan of the UOC Alexander Drabinko wrote on his Facebook page that "at the divine service, he was pleased to see the liturgical ‘tee’ on the chest of All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew, presented to the Holy Memory by Metropolitan Vladimir.”

“The patriarch's sensitivity and spiritual diplomacy are amazing!” Drabinko stressed.

Drabinko did not specify, however, when exactly His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir presented Patriarch Bartholomew, who came to Ukraine in 2008, the "tee", which was made two years later.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that in Zaporizhia the OCU presented a copy of the Peresopnytsia Gospel stolen from the UOC.

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