Bartholomew: I forgive UOC Chancellor but won’t let him doubt my privileges

Patriarch Bartholomew. Photo: fosfanariou.gr

On December 6, 2021, during a conversation with Ukrainian journalists in Istanbul, the head of Phanar said that he’d forgiven Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich), Chancellor of the UOC, but would not let him question the privileges of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, according to the Left Bank newspaper.

At the meeting of Patriarch Bartholomew with journalists from Ukraine, there was a representative of Phanar, Archimandrite Gregory, who said that it was "painful for him to hear" how badly Patriarch Bartholomew is treated and "dragged through the dirt."

In particular, Archimandrite Gregory told media workers that the head of Phanar "is accused that the decision to grant the Ukrainian Church autocephaly was revenge for the fact that the Russians did not come to the Council in Crete in 2016."

In turn, Patriarch Bartholomew noted that he was not upset by what the Russians accuse him of, and what, in particular, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk or Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil say about him.

“I forgive them. But we will not call into question the rights and privileges of the ecumenical throne, granted to us by the Ecumenical Councils and thousand-year history,” the head of Phanar emphasized.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that Patriarch Bartholomew believes that the Bulgarian Church became “schismatic” due to the fact that “it was incited by Moscow to rebel against the Phanar”.

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