I don't care: Head of Phanar on removing his name from the ROC diptychs

Patriarch Bartholomew. Photo: screenshot from Greek Orthodox Church YouTube channel

On October 29, 2021, Patriarch Bartholomew, the head of the Church of Constantinople, said that he “didn’t care” that the Russian Orthodox Church had excluded his name from its diptychs, according to the Greek edition Makeleio.

Speaking at an event in New York, organized by the Phanar Archdiocese in the United States of America in New York, Patriarch Bartholomew said that he had long had a desire to grant "autocephaly" to the "Ukrainian Church" and the citizens of our country.

“Our Ukrainian brothers wanted to have their own Local Church, a national one if I may say, and not to depend on Moscow, not to be harassed by Moscow,” he said.

But when the “autocephaly” of the OCU was granted, the representatives of the Russian Church, according to the patriarch, “got angry and broke off communion with the Ecumenical Patriarch, removed me from the diptychs and do not commemorate me. I'll say to this – I don't care! Yes!” said the head of Phanar.

Patriarch Bartholomew used the slangish phrase "Σκασίλα μου". That is why his words caused laughter among the participants in the event; many of them were quite authoritative members of the Greek Diaspora in the United States.

Journalists commented on the statement of Patriarch Bartholomew in the sense that he "did not even pretend to speak the diplomatic language."

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that, according to the head of Phanar, he is obliged to lead the Local Churches as an elder brother.

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