The delegation of the Phanar held a meeting with members of the “Sofia Brotherhood”

The delegation of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which arrived in Ukraine on August 22, 2024, continues to meet with representatives of religious organizations and associations of Ukraine. This time, on August 28, representatives of Phanar met with members of the public organization “Sophia Brotherhood”, which includes clerics and laity of the UOC and OCU. This is reported on the organization’s website.

“Clerics and laity of various jurisdictions – the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate from the diaspora – had the opportunity to share their painful experiences, highlight the problems, hopes and achievements of Ukrainian believers. The Sophia Brotherhood, which has been engaged in inter-jurisdictional dialogue since 2022, is acutely concerned about the open conflict among the Orthodox in Ukraine. At the same time, the current liturgical life and the constant search for unity during this time have suggested certain ways out of the current crisis at both the personal and institutional levels, which was the subject of discussion during a friendly conversation,” – the statement said.

The legates of Patriarch Bartholomew who attended the meeting discussed the situation in Ukrainian Orthodoxy with the members of the brotherhood. The Istanbul guests warned the representatives of the “Sophia Brotherhood” against radical and unbalanced decisions in relations between the UOC and the OCU.

“Representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate reacted vividly to the speeches of the brothers, commenting on almost every remark. Metropolitan Hilarion emphasized, in particular, the important role of grassroots movements of believers in the reconciliation of jurisdictions and called on the Brotherhood to continue its work, promising to convey the constructive ideas expressed during the conversation to His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew. Metropolitan Job, for his part, drew attention to the need to make balanced decisions and the inadmissibility of radical steps in interchurch relations,” – the release says.

As reported earlier, a member of the OCU delegation, Yevstratiy Zoria, who visited the residence of the Patriarch of Constantinople in Istanbul on August 13, said that Patriarch Bartholomew denied rumors about the possible creation of an exarchate of Phanar for the banned Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Zorya claims that the patriarch called such information “fake news,” thus indicating his negative attitude to such a development.