Archbishop Elpidophoros of America sent a message to the Patriarchate of Moscow to follow the example of the Ecumenical Patriarch, “who finds appropriate solutions in all crises and works for world peace,” from Chios.
“Ethnic outbreaks do not help and the Orthodox Churches can under no circumstances justify any bloodshed,” said Elpidophoros, in his speech during the ceremony of his appointment as an honorary doctor of the Department of Business Administration of the University of the Aegean. “The Churches must work for the restoration of peace, following the example of our Ecumenical Patriarch who has been leading Orthodoxy to calm ports for decades,” he stressed.
The keynote speech of the Archbishop of America during his proclamation ceremony was titled “Crisis Management at the Ecumenical Patriarchate”. Archbishop Elpidophoros referred to all the crises managed by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Ecumenical Patriarch himself with great success. “It is a great honor for me to receive an honorary doctorate,” he noted. “But I want to pay tribute to the institution of the Ecumenical Patriarchate that honored me since I was a coder, then a chief secretary, and then a Metropolitan of Bursa, and today the Archbishop of America. I want to pay tribute to the Great Church of Christ, the First Throne Church of Constantinople, and our Ecumenical Patriarch,” he said. “To pay tribute to the personality of the Ecumenical Patriarch, who leads the Church to calm ports.
And of course, the honor goes back to one person, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who, as the longest-lasting Patriarch in the history of the Church of Constantinople, still today leads the ark of this Orthodoxy to calm ports, overcoming crises and storms in modern history, managing world Orthodoxy with wisdom.”
“The Ecumenical Patriarchate has a strategy to deal with the crises and the various problems that concern society and Orthodoxy,” he stressed. He even referred to the crises successfully managed by the Patriarchate and found the appropriate solutions in the Churches of Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Ukraine.
The Archbishop of America in the case of the Church of Ukraine, where, as he said, “there were conflicting and accused jurisdictions,” noted that the Ecumenical Throne attempted to resolve the issue in cooperation with the Patriarchate of Moscow. But the Patriarchate of Moscow, as he said, postponed, downgraded, and eventually interrupted efforts to resolve it. “After the insincere attitude of the Patriarchate of Moscow, after not attending the Ecumenical Council of Crete at the last minute, the Ecumenical Patriarchate decided to take initiative for the solution to the Ukrainian issue, a solution followed by the Patriarchate of Alexandria and the Churches of Greece and Cyprus. “The Sisters of the Orthodox Churches did not follow Moscow’s absurdity and commemorate the Patriarch of Moscow, while the Moscow Patriarchate is isolated. And it makes tactical mistakes, as recently with the invasion of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, by redeeming the poor priests of Africa.”
“The Church of Moscow,” he stressed, “must abandon fantasies and respect and align with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the other Orthodox Churches.” “Because synodality plays a pivotal role in crisis management,” he stressed. Synodality is the identity of the Church and all ecclesiastical life is structured synodically,” he noted.
