Head of the Church of Cyprus: Other Primates will hardly recognize Epiphany

Metropolitan Sergiy of Ternopil and Kremenets and Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus. Photo: DECR

The Primate of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus hopes that the ecclesiastic issue in Ukraine will soon cease to be subject to political influence, and Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople will realize the blunder he has committed. Archbishop Chrysostomos II said this on December 22, 2019, during an official meeting with representatives of the Ternopil Diocese of the UOC. It is reported by the UOC DECR.

The meeting took place at the residence of the Primate of the Church of Cyprus after the Divine Liturgy, which Archbishop Chrysostomos concelebrated with Metropolitan Sergiy of Ternopil and Kremenets.

During the meeting, the UOC hierarch told the head of the Cypriot Orthodox Church about the actual state of affairs in Ukrainian Orthodoxy, noting the current interfaith conflict caused by the recognition of Ukrainian schismatics and the intervention of the Patriarch of Constantinople in the internal affairs of the UOC.

As His Beatitude Chrysostomos emphasized, he is well familiar with the Ukrainian situation and sees as his goal to get it across as much as possible to the Primates of other Local Orthodox Churches.

“I took the lead,” he said. “I had a dialogue with all the Primates. We wait and hope that the Patriarch of Constantinople will understand his mistake. Other Primates are unlikely to recognize Epiphany. Although there were attempts to put the Patriarch of Jerusalem under pressure, he did not yield.”

At the end of the meeting, the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus assured the delegation of the Ternopil diocese in support of the canonical UOC and expressed hope that soon the ecclesiastic issue in Ukraine would cease to be subject to political influence. 

In turn, His Eminence Sergiy, clergy and believers of the Ternopil Eparchy of the UOC thanked the Archbishop for the opportunity to communicate and hospitality.

Recall, on December 21, 2019 a delegation of clergy and laity of Ternopil Eparchy of the UOC, led by Metropolitan Sergiy (Gensitsky) of Ternopil and Kremenets, arrived on a pilgrimage visit to Cyprus. On December 22, 2019, on the 12th anniversary of the death of Archbishop Chrysostomos I (Aristodimu), with the blessing of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and all Ukraine, Metropolitan Sergiy concelebrated with His Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostomos II, who led the lity service for the deceased predecessor in the Cathedral of St. John the Theologian in Nicosia.

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