On August 10, 2023, the representative of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, who arrived in Ukraine at the invitation of Metropolitan Epiphaniy of Kiyv and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, met with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine at his residence in the St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery.
Metropolitan Emmanuel conveyed warm greetings on behalf of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Metropolitan Epiphaniy and the whole Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
“With the blessing of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, I arrived in Kyiv to show the support of the Mother Church to the heroic people of Ukraine, who oppose the unjust and cruel Russian aggression.
During the visit of President of Ukraine Mr. Volodymyr Zelensky to the Ecumenical Patriarchate a month ago, we discussed the humanitarian dimension of the plan proposed by Ukraine in order to restore peace.
We also discussed other humanitarian initiatives. We agreed that we would continue to work in this direction. Therefore, at the invitation of the President of Ukraine, I also arrived to fulfill this important mission,” said Metropolitan Emmanuel.
During the meeting, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Metropolitan Epiphaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine had a warm conversation on the phone.
On the same day, Metropolitan Epiphaniy and Metropolitan Emmanuel visited the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Monastery, where they met governor Archimandrite Abraham. He spoke about the Cathedral and the current state of the monastery, which will gradually be freed from the Russian yoke.
Metropolitan Emmanuel met with the President of Ukraine
The Head of State noted that the visit of the Metropolitan was a very important signal of support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people from the Ecumenical Patriarchate during the full-scale war unleashed by Russia.
“I greatly appreciate the dialogue we continued with His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew during my recent visit to Türkiye. It was very important,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized.
The President conveyed an invitation to the Ecumenical Patriarch to visit Ukraine.
For his part, Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon conveyed to the Head of State the best greetings from His All-Holiness.
“We strongly support you in this difficult moment. You can rest assured of our support and of everything we can do on behalf of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,” he said.
During the conversation, attention was paid to the spiritual independence of Ukraine, the discussion of the Ukrainian Peace Formula, and the issue of the return of children illegally deported from the country.
