Constantinople bishop calls its patriarch a “servant of the Church’s unity”

Patriarch Bartholomew and Epifaniy Dumenko. Photo: OCU

A hierarch of the Church of Constantinople, Metropolitan Apostolos (Koufallakis), who heads the Metropolis of New Jersey of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, issued a statement in defense of Patriarch Bartholomew, saying that he is a “faithful servant of the unity of the Orthodox Church.” Orthodox Times reported this.

Commenting on the statements voiced by Russian state bodies, the hierarch described them as “unacceptable and gravely slanderous.”

According to Metropolitan Apostolos, “Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is widely recognized as a steadfast servant of the unity of the Church,” who can be praised "for his consistent commitment to synodality, respect for the autonomy of local Churches, and tireless efforts for the preservation of ecclesiastical peace."

He stated that under the leadership of Patriarch Bartholomew, the Ecumenical Patriarchate remains “a beacon of fire, but a lighthouse of unquenchable eternal Light, that the cold northern wind cannot extinguish,” even in times of tension and trial for global Orthodoxy.

The hierarch also asserted that the Patriarch’s ministry is exclusively spiritual – one that "theologizes”and “does not engage in politics” – and that for seventeen centuries the Church of Constantinople has borne its cross without reliance on secular power.

As the UOJ previously reported, Constantinople responded to Russia’s criticism of Patriarch Bartholomew.

Earlier, Patriarch Bartholomew, in an address to Bulgarian Patriarch Daniil and a delegation of the Bulgarian Church, touched on the issue of unity in Orthodoxy. He noted that “recently some have attempted to create schisms by portraying the Great Church as acting arbitrarily and transgressing established order. This is undoubtedly deception and a deliberate distortion of the truth.”

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