by romfea.news
On Thursday February 21, there took place a European parliament event on the role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the Orthodox Church and Europe today.
The event was conducted with the cooperation between the Greek Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Manolis Kefalogiannis and the Holy Metropolis of Belgium Mr. Kefalogiannis, having welcomed the Metropolitans of Belgium and Smyrna in the base of the European Union, referred extensively to his at times official interventions and references to the protection of the rights of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and stressed his complete support to the institutions of faith and Greek origins, by the official representatives of Greece in Europe.
Nextly, the main speaker, Metropolitan Bartholomew argued for the great impact that Mother Church of Constantinople plays not only in the European but also in world affairs.
During his greetings, Metropolitan Athinagoras of Belgium claimed that the particular event is an opportunity “to express our support to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which always actively engages on the good and unity of our Church”.
Metropolitan Athinagoras stressed that “the Ecumenical Patriarchate has never disrupted or divided the unity of the Orthodox Christians… The unity of our Church is tested today. Our ecclesiastic history has also been tested in the past, but we overcame the difficulties with the help of our Lord. Our Ecumenical Patriarchate, due to the rights provided by our tradition and the history of our Church, had taken the same initiative for so many other Orthodox sister Churches. Why not do the same with the Church of Ukraine?…”
