LAST UPDATE: 20:05
On Sunday, November 8, 2020, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew presided over the Divine Liturgy for the Synaxis of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel, and the Other Bodiless Powers at the celebrant Church of the Holy Archangels of the Community of Mega Revma in Bosporus Region. Hierarchs of the Throne and from abroad also concelebrated the Divine Liturgy.
The ordination of the newly elected Bishop of Komana and Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Kyiv, Michail, took place during the Divine Liturgy.
The delegation of the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine also participated in the ceremony.
The Ecumenical Patriarch stated, among other things, that: “The care of the Ecumenical Throne was the motive and firm criterion for its decision to grant autocephaly to the Church in Ukraine, which suffered as a result of the schism and longed for communion and unity.”What is said and written shamelessly about other motives in the relevant decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate is false.”
Then, referring to the granting of the autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Ecumenical Patriarch noted:
“The Ecumenical Patriarchate has long held a dialogue with the Moscow Patriarchate on the church situation in Ukraine. However, Moscow has constantly hampered the progress and was the stumbling block to the positive outcome of this dialogue. That is why we have been led to the Ukrainian autocephaly, which no dispute or any effort by any Church can cancel.
Any attempt, whether it is called a unilateral break of Eucharistic communion, or a “fraternal meeting,” as had been the case months ago in Amman, Jordan, or an attempt to discredit the Ecumenical Patriarchate and its primate by falsely blaming them for creating the problems in Orthodox relations, not only they do not lead to a positive result, but cause further tensions, tarnish the image of Orthodoxy in the eyes of other Christians, and weaken its testimony in the modern world.
The power of the Great Church is not secular. The logic of power prevails in the secular institutions, but the Church is governed by non-negotiable divinely written and given spiritual laws. The Church of Constantinople was blessed by God to be the guardian of the Tradition of the Apostles and the Fathers. On the basis of this Tradition, the decisions of the Ecumenical Councils, the divine and sacred Canons and the inviolable church practice, the Ecumenical Patriarchate was and remains the First Throne in the Orthodox Church, which granted autocephaly to all the junior local Orthodox Churches, including the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Challenging the role of the Great Church of Christ brings instability and disrupts the unity of Orthodoxy.”
Immediately afterwards, the newly elected Bishop of Komana, in his reply, expressed his devotion and respect for the Ecumenical Patriarch and thanked the Synodal Hierarchs for his election.
He also thanked Metropolitan Epiphaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, the Hierarchs and the Holy Clergy of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine for all the love and support.
