ROC confirms that a pan-Orthodox meeting can be held in February

Deputy head of the ROC DECR Archpriest Nikolai Balashov. Photo: ria.ru

On December 18, Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, deputy head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, confirmed information that the Patriarch Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem proposed holding an All-Orthodox meeting of the Primates of Local Churches in February 2020, reports RIA Novosti. The upcoming event will be devoted to the situation in the Orthodox world and the “Ukrainian issue” in particular.

When asked if there is evidence that the meeting of the Primates will actually take place, Father Nikolai answered: "We will see what kind of reaction there will be."

In November of this year, Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem invited the Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches to discuss the “issue of maintaining our unity in Eucharistic communion”, caused by the bestowal of autocephaly to the OCU by the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

The Russian Orthodox Church supported the initiative of Patriarch Theophilos III, noting that "there is no alternative to the beginning of a direct dialogue".

As reported by the UOJ, the head of the Albanian Church, some Greek metropolitans and other representatives of the Local Churches also spoke in favor of holding the Pan-Orthodox meeting of the Primates.

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