Pat Bartholomew clashed with Albanian Church head over UOC – Athonite cleric

Archbishop Anastasios of Albania with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Photo: Ecumenical Patriarchate / Nikos Papachristou

Patriarch Bartholomew became a focal point of discussion at a conference in Athens held in memory of the late Archbishop of Albania, Anastasios (Yannoulatos). This was reported by the Greek edition of UOJ.

Athonite Archimandrite Theologos Chrysanthakopoulos, who for many years worked closely with Archbishop Anastasios, said that shortly before falling ill, the primate of the Albanian Church confided to him his bitterness over what he called a “fraternal war by the Phanar against him because of his uncompromising theological position regarding the Ukrainian issue.”

According to the archimandrite, Archbishop Anastasios lamented that his fidelity to the Orthodox teaching on the Church – and his disagreement with granting autocephaly to the OCU – had led to a cooling of relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

The theologian emphasized that Archbishop Anastasios felt with pain the deepening division within Orthodoxy and, in recent years, had prayed for the restoration of unity.

As the UOJ previously reported, Patriarch Bartholomew promised he would not take the Tomos away from the OCU.

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