Patriarch Bartholomew: We won't revoke the Tomos, the OCU and UOC must unite

Patriarch Bartholomew. Photo: Les Chemins de la Foi – France Télévisions

In an interview with French television, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople stated that he would not revoke the Tomos of the OCU, despite the fact that it has not brought about the desired unity of the Orthodox.

Answering the question of why the decision was made to grant the Tomos to the OCU, the Patriarch said he was guided by two motives. First, because “the Ukrainian Church has the right to obtain independence,” and second, because the Phanar had received “numerous appeals,” not only in recent years but also “much earlier, in the 1920s and even before that.”

“Our goal is to unite all the Orthodox Churches of Ukraine, both Metropolitan Onuphry and Metropolitan Epiphany, so that they may be united in theory and in practice, become one local Church, and be recognized by the other sister Orthodox Churches,” Patriarch Bartholomew declared.

In his view, this “will happen sooner or later,” but “one should not expect it to occur in a single day.” The head of the Phanar believes that the unification of the UOC and OCU, and their recognition by the Local Churches, “will take place in the coming years or decades.”

“The Ecumenical Patriarchate has no intention of revoking its decision to grant autocephaly to Ukraine. I want to be clear on this matter,” Patriarch Bartholomew concluded.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that a hierarch of the UOC had called on Patriarch Bartholomew to suspend the Tomos due to the violent seizures of UOC churches by supporters of the OCU.

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