Archons to reward former US Secretary of State for supporting Phanar

Serhiy Dumenko and Mike Pompeo in Kyiv. Photo: OCU press service

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has supported the OCU, will receive an award from the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for his contribution to the protection of human rights. This was reported by the press service of the organization.

“With the blessings of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the approval of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate (AEP) is pleased to announce that the 2025 Athenagoras Human Rights Award will be presented to the Hon. Michael R. Pompeo, the 70th Secretary of State of the United States of America,” the statement reads.

The award will be presented on October 18, 2025, at the annual Archons banquet at the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel in New York City.

Dr. Anthony J. Limberakis, National Commander of the AEP, stated: “Secretary Pompeo has consistently demonstrated a heartfelt and deeply informed concern for the rights of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and all of the religious minorities in Turkey."

The Archons particularly emphasized that Pompeo praised Patriarch Bartholomew for establishing the OCU at the 4th International Conference of Archons on Religious Freedom, stating that “this gave Ukrainians the ability to exercise their true faith.”

The Athenagoras Human Rights Award was established in 1986 in honor of Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, who served as Archbishop of America for 18 years before being elected Ecumenical Patriarch in 1948.

Among the recent nominees is Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria, who was awarded in 2022 for “supporting the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s decision to grant Autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and thus, to restore millions of Ukrainians to the Canonical Church.”

In 2019, the award was received by Epifaniy Dumenko.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that, according to lawyer of the UOC Robert Amsterdam, the OCU was established through the efforts of Petro Poroshenko and Mike Pompeo.

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