"Out of a sense of motherly love": Bartholomew tried to impose his counselors on Epiphanius for "fraternal cues"

In 2023, the head of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Bartholomew, tried to send an advisory group consisting of Phanar hierarchs to Kyiv so that they could be constantly surrounded by Epiphany Dumenko and “fraternally advise” him on how to manage the OCU. The purpose of this delegation, among other things, was to engage in a dialogue with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on a possible unification, but the OCU refused such consultations from Phanar. The corresponding letter of Patriarch Bartholomew addressed to Epiphany Dumenko was published in the media.

It is reported that the delegation was to include two Phanar hierarchs of Ukrainian origin: Archbishop Hilarion of Winnipeg and Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Churches in Canada and Metropolitan Job of Pisidia, as well as Deacon Epiphanius Kamenovich. Patriarch Bartholomew described the main tasks of the delegation as follows: “It is clear that this fraternal and auxiliary visit of the representatives of Phanar, which loves you very much, is directed primarily to Your Beatitude, which is why we have instructed our brothers to touch upon your affairs only in full cooperation and after agreeing with you to be near you, dear holy brother and Primate of the Most Holy Church of Ukraine, to express our immense support for the Mother Church of Constantinople, to inform you of the progress of your church affairs, and to express our good feelings and relations through advice, cooperation and assistance to the beloved church community of your God-given state. For the sake of peace and assistance in carrying your cross burden, and not for the sake of illegal and inappropriate interference in your internal affairs, we are sending them,” – Bartholomew wrote in the letter.

Nevertheless, the said delegation did not get to Kyiv. As we reported earlier, the head of the OCU, Epiphany Dumenko, has been sabotaging the arrival of the delegation of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to Ukraine for almost two years, which Patriarch Bartholomew had intended to send to the country several times to try to resolve the Ukrainian church crisis. However, representatives of the OCU, represented by Epiphany Dumenko and Yevstratiy Zoria, have been inventing various excuses to prevent the Phanar delegation from entering Ukraine.