Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East has spoken out in favor of the unity of Orthodox Christians all over the world and expressed support for the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) with regard to the church crisis in Ukraine.
At a meeting with the Russian delegation led by the co-chairman of the working group on the implementation of the agreement between the United Russia party and the Arab Socialist Renaissance (Ba’ath) Party and member of Russia’s State Duma (lower house of parliament), Dmitry Sablin, on Thursday, the patriarch voiced his concern about “what is going on in ecclesiastical matters in addition to global issues.”
“As an Orthodox Church, we would very much like to preserve the unity of Orthodox Christians all over the world,” he stressed.
“For our part, we got in touch with Ecumenical Patriarch [Bartholomew] in Constantinople, asking him to make efforts aimed at uniting the churches and overcoming the emerging disagreements,” he said. “We are deeply worried about the current situation and fully support you in this issue.”
