Archbishop Chrysostomos met with Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk of the Moscow Patriarchate in Cyprus.
Metropolitan Hilarion is in Cyprus as part of the Orthodox Assembly of the World Council of Churches.
According to the announcement published on the website of the Department of External Church Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow, Metropolitan Hilarion was invited by the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus to the luncheon, during which “there was an exchange of views on the prospects of inter-Orthodox relations and bilateral contacts between the Orthodox Churches of Russia and Cyprus, which became entangled after the end of the Eucharistic communion with Archbishop Chrysostomos and a series of hierarchs, who in 2020 recognized the legitimacy of the schismatic communion in Ukraine.
The Archbishop recalled the mediation efforts he made earlier to resolve the Ukrainian issue.”
It is recalled that the Russian Church has stopped commemorating the Archbishop of Cyprus after his recognition of the Autocephalous Church of Ukraine.
In fact, at the meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Church that took place on November 20, 2020, it was underlined that “the mentioned decision was taken by Archbishop Chrysostomos voluntarily, without agreement with the members of the Holy Synod of the Cypriot Orthodox Church “and therefore does not have a synodical character”.
On October 24, Metropolitan Hilarion himself said in statements that the Russian Church will continue communion with those Hierarchs only that they will not recognize the decision of the Archbishop of Cyprus, which he described as “unilateral”.
Even worse, he threatened that “Russian pilgrims will continue to travel to the pilgrimages of the metropolises of the Church of Cyprus, whose leaders will remain in communion with the Russian Church.”
