Patriarch Bartholomew: I will always stand with Ukraine’s Gagauz
Patriarch Bartholomew meeting with Gagauz representatives. Photo: Association of Gagauz Societies of Ukraine
Patriarch Bartholomew has said he will always stand with the Gagauz of Ukraine. He made the statement during a meeting with Gagauz representatives at the Phanar, participants reported in a Facebook post.
The meeting was held in the Gagauz-Turkic language. The Patriarch also said he prays every day for an end to the war in Ukraine. The meeting was organized by Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry and personally by Roman Nedilskyi, Consul General in Istanbul.
Ukraine is home to around 30,000 Gagauz, most of whom live in Odesa region near the Moldovan border. The ancestors of today’s Ukrainian Gagauz resettled in Bessarabia from the Balkans in the early 19th century.
As the UOJ reported, Patriarch Bartholomew earlier said that he had made a mistake with Ukraine but would not correct anything. The Constantinople Patriarchate remains one of the key actors in the country’s church life after granting the Tomos of Autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) in 2019.
Read also
His Beatitude: Not enough to seek salvation with mind – we must trust God
The UOC Primate called on believers to fulfill the will of the Lord rather than follow their own desires.
UOC parish rector joins OCU after detention by recruitment officers – media
Archimandrite Epifaniy (Rudenko) reportedly agreed to join the OCU in exchange for his release from a Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center.
Ternopil regional authorities transfer Catholic church building to UGCC
Officials in Chortkiv District granted the Uniates the right to use the church free of charge.
Historic Catholic church sold to Muslims set on fire for third time in US
The historic church in New York State caught fire just four days after the previous blaze.
UOC Primate presides over patronal feast at St. Olga Cathedral in Kyiv
His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry awarded the cathedral’s honorary rector the Order of the Pochaiv Icon of the Mother of God.