Prayer service with LGBT female bishop held at Phanar US Archdiocese church

Celebrants of the prayer service at the Trinity Church of the Constantinople Church in the USA. Photo: orthodox observer

On January 30, 2026, an ecumenical prayer service took place at Holy Trinity Cathedral in New York, within the US Archdiocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, with representatives of various Christian denominations – including an openly lesbian “woman bishop” and a “priest” who promotes gender theory. The event was held as part of the 58th annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, organized by the World Council of Churches.

Celebrants of the prayer service included the Right Reverend Bishop Peter Eaton (Episcopal Church), His Eminence Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Apostolic Administrator of New York (Roman Catholic Church), His Eminence Archbishop Daniel of Pamphilon (Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA), and representatives of the Armenian Apostolic Church – His Grace Bishop Mesrop Parsamyan, His Eminence Archbishop Anoushavan Tanielian, His Eminence Archbishop Vicken Aykazian.

Among the participants were also the Right Reverend Bishop Katrina Foster, the first woman and the first openly LGBT person to serve as Presiding Bishop of the Metropolitan New York Synod – ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), as well as Dr. Kirsten Guidero, Ecumenical and Interreligious Officer (Episcopal Church).

Foster was ordained in 1994. In 2007, when the Evangelical Lutheran Church still prohibited openly gay men and lesbians from holding ministerial office, she reportedly risked being defrocked after publicly declaring her orientation and entering into a marriage with a woman. In May 2025, Foster was elected bishop of the Metropolitan New York Synod, and on November 22, 2025, she was officially installed at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Guidero, who participated in the service as an Episcopal “priest,” was previously dismissed from a conservative Christian university for promoting gender ideology at Indiana Wesleyan University. After complaints from parents, the university administration stated that she “does not fit the mission of the university” because of disagreement with the institution’s religious principles.

An anonymous graduate of the university testified that Guidero created a “safe space” for LGBT students and was “the first adult who did not try to change the student or bring the student back into the fold of the church.”

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the Finnish Church under the jurisdiction of the Phanar supported LGBT and gender-related rights.

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