Media: Met. Ioannis concelebrating with OCU did not represent Greek Church

Metropolitan Ioannis of Langadas. Photo: website of a new church structure

The visit of the bishop of the Greek Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Ioannis of Langadas, to Kiev during the celebration of the 1031st anniversary of the Baptism of Rus was private and the Church of Greece did not come to an agreement on the “Ukrainian issue”, Romfea reported.

According to media reports, Metropolitan Ioannis served with the "hierarchs" of the OCU as a professor of Uzhgorod Ukrainian Theological Academy but was not delegated from the plentitude of the Greek Church.

"He was not present as a representative of the Church of Greece which, as we know, did not come to any consensus on the issue of recognition,"  the publication emphasized.

Earlier, the head of the OCU, Epiphany Dumenko, declared “de facto recognition” of the OCU from the side of the Greek Church and said that he had concelebrated with the representatives of this Local Church at the “liturgy” in St. Sophia of Kiev. "Our brothers from the Greek Orthodox Church took part in the service. We are gradually, step by step, gaining recognition of our autocephalous status from other Orthodox Churches,” Epiphany noted.

Recall, Metropolitan Ioannis is a ruling bishop of the Langadas Metropolis of the Church of Greece, which belongs to the so-called “new territories”, i.e. has a dual subordination to the Churches of both Constantinople and Greece.

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