Patriarch Bartholomew: The Church should fight degradation of human dignity

Patriarch Bartholomew. Photo: expertnews

On May 5, 2026, Patriarch Bartholomew delivered an address in the Greek parliament, stating that the Church is fighting against the degradation of the human person, UOJ in Greece reports.

The Patriarch of Constantinople stressed that Christian anthropology views the human being as a person endowed with absolute dignity. According to him, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights remains the foundation of shared values. Referring to the 2016 Council of Crete, Bartholomew said: “The word of the Church has always been, and will remain, a proper intervention in defense of the human person.” The Primate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople called on religions to “act as factors of peace, rather than fuel fanaticism,” and criticized situations in which “the interests of states prevail over international law and the UN Charter.”

The stated principles stand in contrast to the position of the Patriarchate of Constantinople regarding the UOC. Since 2019, when Patriarch Bartholomew granted autocephaly to the OCU, Constantinople has made no public statements about seizures of churches belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and has tacitly acquiesced in violence against its faithful. According to the UOC, the number of seized parishes runs into the hundreds. International human rights organizations have recorded such incidents, yet the Patriarch of Constantinople has not publicly addressed the issue.

Several UOC hierarchs have appealed to Patriarch Bartholomew, urging him to influence the OCU and put an end to the seizures and violence.

As the UOJ reported, OCU activists seized a UOC church in the village of Shchaslyve near Kyiv. Cases of forcible seizures of parishes and obstruction of access to worship have been recorded in various regions of Ukraine. In 2023, the Ukrainian authorities adopted a law effectively banning the UOC, creating a legal basis for the confiscation of its communities’ property.

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