Constantinople Denies Arrival Of Patriarch In Kiev For Unification Council - Reports

Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew did not travel to Ukraine to attend the unification council of the Ukrainian Orthodox churches on Saturday, local media reported, citing sources in the patriarchate.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th December, 2018) Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew did not travel to Ukraine to attend the unification council of the Ukrainian Orthodox churches on Saturday, local media reported, citing sources in the patriarchate.

The Ukrainian authorities and the newly created church want to get a tomos from the Constantinople patriarch on autocephaly. However, the tomos may be obtained only by a leader of the "unified" Ukrainian church. The unification council is meant to choose the leader of the new independent Ukrainian Orthodox church and adopt the structure's statute. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), which has been the only canonical Orthodox church in Ukraine for hundreds of years, has refused to take part in the unification council.

The patriarchate stressed that Bartholomew is at his residence in Istanbul, according to Greece's Romfea news agency.

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian media reported that the patriarch arrived in Kiev. It was followed by reports that the event had been rescheduled for the afternoon instead of morning, as the participants were still waiting for Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's arrival.

The Romfea news agency, in turn, reported that the opening of the unification council had been delayed as only two representatives of the UOC-MP arrived to attend the event.

The Moscow Patriarchate calls the situation around the autocephaly the "legalization of schism," saying that it would have catastrophic consequences and would affect millions of Christians in Ukraine and other countries, and has already broken the Eucharistic communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople.