Archbishop Elpidophoros of America underscored via a post on social media the unwavering solidarity of the Ecumenical Patriarchate with its Mother Church and the canonical leadership of global Orthodoxy.
Reflecting on the recent actions of the Moscow Patriarchate in Africa, he expressed profound concern over the installation of a Russian Hierarch as Patriarchal Exarch in Cairo, a move he denounced as a grave violation of ecclesiastical law and an attack on the unity of the Orthodox Church.
Citing the recent tragedy in Poltava, Ukraine, where a Russian missile strike claimed the lives of over forty civilians, Archbishop Elpidophoros drew a stark parallel between such acts of aggression and the Moscow Patriarchate’s attempts to secularize the Church.
He emphasized the Orthodox Church’s sacred duty to stand as a beacon of peace and justice, resolutely opposing all forms of violence and injustice.
Read below the post of Archbishop Elpidophoros of America
At the conclusion of the Synaxis of Hierarchs of the Ecumenical Throne, we stand even more firmly with our Mother Church and Her canonical leadership in the world.
As our revered Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has declared, we are united in support of His Beatitude Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria in condemning the unjust and anti-canonical actions of the Moscow Patriarchate in Africa.
Their installation of a Russian Hierarch as Patriarchal Exarch in Cairo, within the sacrosanct jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, is a grievous violation of the holy canons and an affront to the unity of the Orthodox Church.
We are reminded of such secularist interventions of the Moscow Patriarchate by today’s tragic loss of life. Caused by the Russian missile strike in the Ukrainian city of Poltava, it claimed more than forty civilian lives and injured many more. We must never turn a blind eye to the horrors unfolding in Ukraine.
This is all the more reason to strongly denounce the ideology that seeks to transform the Church into a secular instrument supporting such senseless crimes. The Orthodox Church must be a beacon of peace, and we must continue to raise our voices against all forms of injustice and violence.
