Conditions for Christians, Orthodoxy in strife-plagued Middle East dominate Nicosia meeting of four Church Primates

The need for the greatest possible effort to safeguard stability in the strife-plagued Middle East was the primary message in a joint communiqué issued on Thursday in Nicosia, Cyprus, by the primates of four of the five most ancient autocephalous Orthodox Churches in the world.

The meeting brought together the Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, His Divine Beatitude Theodore II — the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Most Godly Beatitude Theophilos III — the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, His Beatitude John X, and the meeting’s host — the Archbishop of Cyprus, His Beatitude Chrysostomos II.

The contentious issue of the granting the tomos of autocephaly, by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, was also discussed, along with efforts to consolidate the two millennia-long presence of Christianity in the wider region.

Finally, the Orthodox hierarchs discussed cooperation between their respective Churches.

The joint statement was later posted in Greek and in Arabic on the web site of the Patriarchate of Antioch.

In a related development, the Patriarchs of Jerusalem and Antioch earlier held separate talks in Nicosia, with the problems faced by Orthodox Christians in the Mideast dominating the meeting.

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