Phanar hierarch to Ukraine Ambassador to US: We support DOS and condemn ROC

Archbishop Elpidophoros and Oksana Markarova. Photo: Archbishop Elpidophoros of America facebook page

At a meeting with Oksana Markarova, Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States, Archbishop Elpidophoros (Lambriniadis), the head of the American Archdiocese of Phanar, spoke about his support for the position of the State Department, which accused Russia of instrumentalizing “Orthodox identity” for political purposes, the hierarch of the Patriarchate of Constantinople wrote on his Facebook page.

The Phanar hierarch stated that Ukrainians are “suffering from Russian imperialism,” and also accused the Russian Orthodox Church of “unfair treatment of the history and traditions of Orthodoxy” and “dividing Orthodoxy world over and scandalizing the People of God from Ukraine to Africa.”

“We welcome the US government's stance and the recent statement by a State Department spokesman condemning the Kremlin's 'malign efforts to instrumentalize Orthodox identity',” the Phanar hierarch wrote.

As reported by the UOJ, Patriarch Theodore complained about the ROC to the Abbot of the Sinai Monastery.

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