Patriarch Bartholomew Received a Delegation of Clergy from the OCU

Patriarch Bartholomew held a meeting with representatives of the OCU, during which they discussed the integration of Greek liturgical practices. The highlight of the visit was the presentation of an adapted translation of the “Athonite Typikon” tailored to the needs of Ukrainian parishes.

The official audience took place on July 23, 2026, at the Patriarch’s residence in the Phanar. The delegation, which arrived from the Ivano-Frankivsk region, was led by clergy of the diocese, accompanied by Archimandrite Bartholomew, abbot of the Mount Athos monastery “New Esfigmen.”

The central theme of the meeting was the presentation of the “Athonite Typikon of Divine Services” in Ukrainian. This work, prepared by the monastic community of the “New Esfigmen” Monastery, is aimed at actively introducing Byzantine liturgical traditions into the daily worship practices of the OCU. The participants emphasized that this work is intended to strengthen the spiritual ties between Mount Athos and Ukrainian Orthodoxy.

As a reminder, earlier, the head of the OCU, Epiphanius Dumenko, during a meeting with a delegation from the Mount Athos monastery “New Esfigmen,” stated that the current process of displacing monks of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is a process of “liberating” ’s monastery from the so-called “shackles of the Rus’ world.”