Hierarch of Constantinople: We hold highest authority in Orthodox Church

Archbishop Elpidophoros. Photo: Orthodox Observer

Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Church of Constantinople in America said in an interview with Viche that the Ecumenical Patriarchate bears that name because it “grants canonical status to any Church, to any ecclesiastical structure.”

“And that is precisely why it is called the Ecumenical Patriarchate. We have the highest authority in the Orthodox Church. Of course, not in the same way as in the Roman Catholic Church, where the highest authority belongs to the pope, but we have an Orthodox highest authority with our own rules, in accordance with the canons of the Ecumenical Councils,” the archbishop stated.

He emphasized that “if the Ecumenical Patriarchate truly had the right to grant autocephaly and patriarchal status to the Russian Church, then that same Ecumenical Patriarchate also has the right to do so for other Local autocephalous Churches or local Churches, whenever it considers it appropriate.”

Earlier, the UOJ reported that a hierarch of Constantinople urged the UOC to begin commemorating Patriarch Bartholomew.

Read also