The hierarch of the Church of Greece called for the convening of a Pan-Orthodox Council to resolve the Ukrainian church crisis.

Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus, a hierarch of the Greek Orthodox Church, called for the convening of a Pan-Orthodox Council to resolve the Ukrainian church crisis. The hierarch noted that the church situation in Ukraine has seriously undermined Pan-Orthodox unity, which must be restored jointly. He made this statement during a theological conference dedicated to the Ukrainian church crisis.

The metropolitan drew attention to several fundamentally important aspects which, in his opinion, led to the current situation in Orthodoxy. First of all, he said that Patriarch Bartholomew, although considered first in honor, did not have the right to make an independent decision on granting autocephaly to the OCU. He is convinced that such a question should have been considered jointly with all the Local Churches.

The second point on which the bishop focused the attention of his listeners was the questionable canonical status of the clergy of the OCU. Metropolitan Seraphim emphasized that in six years, only four Local Churches have recognized the OCU, and even then only partially. This fact shows that Patriarch Bartholomew’s granting of autocephaly to the OCU has divided Orthodoxy. In addition, the bishop noted that “inclusion in the unity and communion of the Church necessarily presupposes a deep experience and sincere expression of repentance” for the previous schism, which did not happen with any of the representatives of the OCU.

At the end of his speech, the bishop called for the earliest possible convening of a Pan-Orthodox Council, which would be able to restore the shaken unity of the Local Orthodox Churches and resolve the Ukrainian church issue. “Mainly, so that the division of ecclesiastical communion between the Orthodox autocephalous Churches would cease,” — said the metropolitan, emphasizing the need to resolve this “most important ecclesiastical matter” on a canonical basis.

Earlier, the hierarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Irenaeus of Bačka, called on Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople to restore the status quo regarding the Ukrainian church crisis. The bishop is convinced that the head of the Phanar must acknowledge the mistake he made in recognizing the OCU and return the situation to the state it was in before 2019, when the Ukrainian schism was granted the Tomos of autocephaly. Metropolitan Irenaeus believes that Patriarch Bartholomew will thus be able to restore his shaken authority and prevent a global schism in world Orthodoxy.