Media: The head of the LOC may have secretly met with Patriarch Bartholomew to discuss autocephaly

Metropolitan Alexander of Riga and All Latvia allegedly held a secret meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew during the latter’s visit to Latvia last week. The reason for the meeting could be the discussion of the issue of granting autocephaly to the Latvian Orthodox Church (LOC). This is reported by the Telegram channel “Chryzma”.

Information about the meeting was spread by former Latvian journalist and member of the European Parliament in 2014-2019. Andrei Mamykin, who currently resides in Russia. According to him, the meeting took place at the request of Metropolitan Alexander and was held in complete secrecy. Mamykin suggests that the subject of negotiations could be not only “Tomos on the recognition of church autocephaly”, but also bargaining about “bonuses” for the LOC Primate.

“If this information is confirmed, it could lead to the realization in Latvia of a scenario of a church split similar to the Ukrainian one. It is noted that these events take place against the background of the policy of the Latvian authorities, which expel from the country permanently residing Russian citizens who have not confirmed knowledge of the Latvian language to extend the residence permit,” – report the authors of the channel “Chryzma”.

Recall, on September 12-13, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople visited Latvia. The head of the Phanar held a number of meetings with top officials, discussing changes in the status of the Latvian Orthodox Church.