Phanar bishop at ecumenical prayer service: All faiths are one Body of Christ

Archbishop Elpidophoros at an ecumenical prayer service. Photo: Orthodox Observer

On January 30, 2026, Archbishop Elpidophoros (Lambriniadis), head of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, stated that all Christian denominations, taken together, constitute the one Body of Christ. The hierarch made this statement at an ecumenical prayer service attended by representatives of various Christian confessions, including an openly lesbian “woman bishop.”

The event took place at Holy Trinity Cathedral as part of the 58th annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity organized by the World Council of Churches. The theme of the service was drawn from Epistle to the Ephesians (4:4): “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling.”

“To move beyond our ecclesial insularity, we must endeavor to intentionally embrace the diversity that already exists in the Body of Christ,” Archbishop Elpidophoros said.

Those participating in the service included: “woman bishop” Katrina Foster (ELCA) – described as the first openly lesbian bishop of the Metropolitan New York Synod and in a same-sex marriage since 2007; the “priest” Kirsten Gidero (Episcopal Church), previously dismissed from a Christian university for promoting gender ideology; Cardinal Timothy Dolan; Bishop Peter Eaton (Episcopal Church); Archbishop Daniel of Pamphilon (UOC in the USA); and representatives of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

In his homily, Cardinal Dolan noted that the experience of suffering throughout the world unites Christians of all traditions. Among global problems, the cardinal mentioned “the persecutions our immigrants and refugees face.” Archbishop Elpidophoros called Cardinal Dolan’s sermon “enriching” and presented him with a silver pectoral cross as a token of gratitude and “fraternal affection.”

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity began in 1908 as the “Octave of Christian Unity” and is typically celebrated during the later weeks of January.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol of the Church of Cyprus, even before the Holy and Great Council of Crete, had said that “the only path leading to unity with the Church is the path of the return of heretics and schismatics through repentance into the bosom of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.”

The hierarch noted that “ascribing the name ‘Church’ to heretical or schismatic communities is absolutely incorrect – theologically, dogmatically, and canonically – because there is one Church of Christ.” He believes “we must be honest with brothers who are in heresies and schisms, and with love and pain pray for them, that they may return to the Church of Christ.”

Read also