Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has issued a new statement against Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
In particular, he stated that “Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople is directly dependent on the United States, on those who work on American soil in different directions, including financial.”
He also referred to the granting of the autocephaly of the Church of Ukraine, emphasizing that “they set aside those clergy who opposed it in Ukraine, and appointed their own Metropolitan.”
He added that the main concern now is to occupy the property (churches, parishes) of the “canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church”.
He also said that something similar is being done in Belarus, with the creation of an autocephalous “church instead of a canonical church”.
“They turn the hands of the Churches so as to recognize the schismatic Epifaniy, the head of the so-called “Ukrainian Orthodox Church”. The Greek churches made this compromise with conscience,” said the Russian Foreign Minister.