Serbian hierarch: Phanar was under pressure of U.S. and Greek lobby on OCU

Bishop Anthony (Pantelič) of Moravici. Photo: Pravmir

Patriarch Bartholomew could have turned to his fellow Orthodox Churches for assistance, but he chose instead the wrong path, Bishop Anthony of Moravici, the vicar to His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia, said in a recent interview with the Serbian edition “Novosti”.

“Pat. Bartholomew was obviously under strong pressure from the Americans and the rich Greek lobby living in the United States. The Patriarchate of Constantinople is poor and is aided by wealthy Greeks associated with American politicians,” Bp. Anthony said. “They put the greatest pressure on Pat. Bartholomew to change his attitude and recognize the schism in Ukraine. The Americans fueled the conflict in Ukraine and put direct pressure on the Patriarch of Constantinople to support the schism. It is known that emissaries from Washington came to Istanbul and Kiev.”

The other Orthodox Churches would have helped Constantinople, but the Patriarch “chose the wrong path, when he wants to rule the Orthodox Churches of other peoples living in the diaspora. Our Church does not want anyone else to run Serbian churches abroad,” Bp. Anthony said.

We recall that Metropolitan Anthony of Moravici also stated that the Ecumenical Patriarch is the first in honor but not in authority, and such important issues as autocephaly should be decided collectively at Pan-Orthodox Councils.

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