UOC cleric: Meeting with Pope, Phanar seeks to appear as head of Orthodoxy

Pope Leo and Patriarch Bartholomew. Photo: Yara Nardi/Reuters

The main idea of the events in Iznik and at the Phanar was to demonstrate that the Patriarch of Constantinople is the sole authorized representative of all Orthodoxy and comparable in significance to the pope in the Roman Catholic Church, says UOC deacon Andriy Hlushchenko.

According to him, all the other primates of the Local Orthodox Churches were initially assigned secondary roles.

He recalled that Patriarch Bartholomew regularly calls himself “first without equals,” arguing that he is the primate of the Church of Constantinople.

The deacon drew attention to the historical irony of the situation. At the time of the Council of Nicaea in 325, Constantinople did not yet exist – the city was founded only in 330. Accordingly, the Patriarchate of Constantinople also did not exist. Meanwhile, he emphasizes, the weight of the Alexandrian and Antiochian Churches at that time was considerable.

“At the time of the Council of Nicaea, Alexandria was not only one of the two largest cities in the eastern part of the Roman Empire (along with Antioch), but also a major Christian center. Already then, the title of ‘pope’ was assigned to the Alexandrian bishop,” Fr. Andriy stressed.

He believes that the roles assigned to Patriarchs Theodoros and Bartholomew at the celebrations in Istanbul bore no relation to the historical context of the Council of Nicaea, whose anniversary was being marked at the Phanar.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that during the moleben at the Phanar, Pope Leo was commemorated before Patriarch Bartholomew.

Read also