Phanar's actions in Ukraine discussed at international media festival in RF

Patriarch Bartholomew with the “hierarchs” of the OCU. Photo: pomisna.info

Within the framework of the IX International Festival "Faith and Word" on the theme "Church in a Changing World: Challenges and Lessons of Digitalization", which takes place in Russia from October 18 to 22, 2021, the Phanar’s actions in Ukraine and their consequences were discussed, reports the press service of the Synodal Department for Church's Relations with Society and Mass Media.

The discussion with the participation of representatives of the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches, the Orthodox Church of Moldova, the Bulgarian and other Local Churches, as well as foreign journalists, took place within the framework of the panel discussion “Phanar's actions in Ukraine: Reflection in the Media Space”.

The participants in the discussion touched upon the most problematic aspects of inter-Orthodox relations in recent years and also discussed the interpretation of the Ukrainian church issue in the information space.

In particular, the experts stated that the Orthodox media in Ukraine remain the only information resources that report the facts of seizures and illegal re-registration of churches, violations of the rights of the clergy and believers.

Peggy Doku, a journalist from Greece, spoke about how the Ukrainian church issue is being presented in the European media. According to her, most of the Greek media take the position of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and "do not want to really understand what is happening in Ukraine". On the other hand, she noted, the European media are unaware of the Ukrainian issue and are "quite hostile".

“Let me share my personal opinion, because I just live there, in the place that belongs to the jurisdiction of Patriarch Bartholomew: I think that he will not change his decision. He does not believe in dialogue – everyone should understand this. We must be prepared for the fact that he will create many new problems. He doesn't want to accept the fact that he makes mistakes. And the Russian Church should, first of all, influence public opinion on this issue since the created schism also caused problems between Russia and Greece in many issues,” the Greek journalist emphasized.

It should be noted that representatives of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Greece, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Moldova and other countries are taking part in the forum of the Russian Orthodox Church "Faith and Word" this year.

As reported earlier, the hierarchs of the UOC made reports at a conference on primacy in the Church.

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