The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, His All Holiness Bartholomew I, directly referred to the granting of the Tomos of Autocephaly by the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, on the occasion of the one-year anniversary of the historic decision and during a sermon on the Sunday before Epiphany.
Speaking at the Patriarchate’s Fanar District seat, His All Holiness detailed the decision by the most ancient of Orthodox Patriarchates, the Mother Church of Constantinople, while expressing indirect censure towards the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Patriarchate of Moscow over the issue of the convening of a Pan-Orthodox synod of the world’s Orthodox Primates.
A delegation of hierarchs from the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of the Ukraine were on hand, with the Metropolitan of Lviv, His Eminence Makariy, speaking on behalf of the delegation.
In response to the Metropolitan’s address, Ecumenical Patriarch cited what he called the slander directed at the Ecumenical Patriarchate over the past year due to the issue of Ukrainian autocephaly.
“Nevertheless, the Ukrainian Church is now proceeding with complete freedom, while those that do not recognize it (autocephaly) are being directed by other powers,” Bartholomew underlined, adding: “The Ecumenical throne has never remained unmoved when Orthodox peoples have sought recourse to it.”
His All Holiness also expressed his thanks to the Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, His Most Divine Beatitude Theodoros II, and to the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, His Beatitude Ieronymos, for their efforts in recognition of the Ukrainian Church’s autocephaly by their respective Churches.
At the same time, the Ecumenical Patriarch touched on an initiative by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Most Godly Beatitude Theophilos III, to convene a Pan-Orthodox synod, noting that the latter has broken holy communion with the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, His Beatitude John X, over disagreement regarding the Orthodox ecclesiastical jurisdiction in Qatar.
His All Holiness referred to a particularly “grievous impression” caused by a “canonically baseless and ecclesiastically unfounded initiative” by Theophilos III to convene a synod of Orthodox Primates in Amman, Jordan.
