Phanar hierarch to Patriarch: Churches ignore our meetings because of OCU
Archbishop Elpidophoros and Patriarch Bartholomew. Photo: Orthodox Observer
Archbishop Elpidophoros in his letter to Patriarch Bartholomew, leaked to the Union of Orthodox Journalists of America, addressed an acute problem facing the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the diaspora: a number of Local Churches are effectively boycotting local episcopal assemblies.
"The prolonged ecclesiastical situation in Ukraine complicates, beyond inter-church relations at a higher level, also the cooperation among Orthodox in the diaspora, especially in the local Episcopal Assemblies," wrote the archbishop.
According to him, in some countries Episcopal Assemblies cannot even be convened – hierarchs of individual autocephalous Churches have received direct instructions from their "Mother Churches" not to attend meetings that are chaired by hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate according to protocol. The reason is Constantinople's granting of autocephaly to the OCU, which these Churches consider "uncanonical and schismatic".
Similar pressure aimed at undermining the Episcopal Assembly is being exerted, according to Archbishop Elpidophoros' admission, in the USA itself.
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that Trump included a hierarch of Constantinople in the Commission on Religious Freedom.
Read also
Sand for construction of Yermak’s residence brought from cemetery, MP says
MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak said that sand illegally removed from a cemetery in Ukrainka was used in the construction of the elite Dynasty cooperative in Kozyn.
Italian court recognizes family with three parents as legal
In Bari, the appellate court ordered authorities to register an adoption according to which a child is listed as having two "fathers" and one mother.
Archaeologists discover biblical Bethsaida on shore of Sea of Galilee
Researchers have discovered a first-century residential house beneath the apse of a Byzantine church and a mosaic inscription mentioning the Apostle Peter.
Israeli soldiers receive jail terms for mocking statue of the Virgin Mary
Those involved in the act of sacrilege in the village of Debel will spend several weeks behind bars for desecrating a statue of the Mother of God.
Serbian Church officially receives back land of 15th-century monastery
An agreement was signed in Belgrade transferring the territory of the ancient Vojlovica Monastery to the Banat Eparchy.
Pat Daniel comments on conflict between Phanar bishop and community in Turkey
The Bulgarian Primate believes that the hierarch of the Constantinople Patriarchate should not have forced the Bulgarian community in Edirne to serve in Greek.