Pat. Bartholomew: Most Ukrainians have long sought Tomos from us

Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. Photo: TSN

The majority of the population of Ukraine has long appealed to the Phanar for independence from the Moscow church administration, said Patriarch Bartholomew in an interview with TSN journalists, who noted that the head of the Patriarchate of Constantinople “often looked at” the text prepared in advance, “obviously, not to say too much”.

“Most, that is, the majority of the population, have long appealed to us with a request for independence from the Moscow Church administration. This request for independence is not a matter of recent years, it has existed for centuries. Our predecessor, Dionysius IV, granted the Moscow Patriarch only the right to appoint the Metropolitan of Kiev, elected by the clergy and laity council, but the Ecumenical Patriarch had the privilege of being commemorated first in the Holy Liturgy as its spiritual head. However, that condition was quickly forgotten,” said the head of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

At the same time, the authors of the TV spot emphasized that they had to agree questions to the patriarch for a very long time, “since the Church strongly affects modern geopolitics”: “Now world Orthodoxy is divided. A significant part supports the Ecumenical Patriarch, several Churches – the Russian Patriarch Kirill.”

As reported, earlier Patriarch Bartholomew said that the OCU would soon be recognized by the Greek Church. At the same time, the Greek media published information that the agenda of the next meeting of the Bishops’ Council of the Greek to be held from October 8 to October 11, 2019, does not include the “Ukrainian issue”.

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