"Council of Churches of Ukraine" defends Patriarch Bartholomew from Russia

Patriarch Bartholomew. Photo: Brittainy Newman

On January 23, 2026, the organization "Council of Christian Churches of Ukraine" issued a statement defending Patriarch Bartholomew from an attack by the Russian Federation, reports the website of the Institute for Religious Freedom.

The reaction was prompted by the "Report of the Foreign Intelligence Service" of the Russian Federation dated January 12, 2025, as well as the “Statement of the Churches – Members of the Christian Interconfessional Consultative Committee” (CICC) dated January 15 of this year.

"The text circulated by the Russian intelligence service, both in form and content culturally and morally unacceptable, advances unfounded accusations against the Head of the Constantinople Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew – one of the world’s leading Christian leaders," the statement reads. "This unprecedented public attack by Russian intelligence on him and on the activities of the Constantinople Patriarchate, in its style and spirit, recalls the worst examples of Bolshevik anti-religious propaganda."

According to the Council of Christian Churches of Ukraine, the appearance of a document from CICC immediately after the FIS statement, "essentially repeats the same ideas" and testifies to the close connection between the Russian state and the leadership of the major religious associations of the Russian Federation.

"The aforementioned CICC statement emerged under pressure from the Russian state and at its behest," the organization is convinced.

The document was signed by the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Epifaniy Dumenko, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine, Ordinary of Kyiv-Zhytomyr Vitalii Kryvytskyi, Head of the All-Ukrainian Union of the Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists Valerii Antoniuk, Chairman of the Council of Christian Churches of Ukraine, Senior Bishop of the Ukrainian Pentecostal Church Anatoliy Kozachok, President of the Ukrainian Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Roman Prodaniuk, Senior Bishop of the Ukrainian Evangelical Church Oleksandr Zaitsev, Senior Bishop of the Ukrainian Christian Evangelical Church Leonid Padun, Bishop of the Ukrainian Diocese of Armenian Apostolic Church Marcos Hovhannisyan, Bishop of the Ukrainian Lutheran Church Vyacheslav Horpynchuk, and Chairman of the Brotherhood of Independent Churches and Missions of Evangelical Christian Baptists of Ukraine, Pastor Mykola Rozhniatovskyi.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Constantinople responded to Russia's criticism of Patriarch Bartholomew.

Read also