Vartholomeos to Moscow Patriarchate : ‘I couldn’t care less’ about your disruption of communion

Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos derided the Patriarchate of Moscow over its decision to cut off communion with the Church of Constantinople, which is the first ranking church in Eastern Orthodoxy.

The Moscow Patriarchate and the Kremlin have unleashed incessant personal attacks against Vartholomeos and the Ecumenical Patriarchate over his decision to grant, in January, 2019, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine autocephaly, which is to say administrative independence, in this case from the Russian Church.

The Ukrainian Church that was recognised had for decades sought independence from the Moscow patriarchate, a quest that went hand-in-hand with the country's political independence.

The US government has steadfastly supported the Ecumenical Patriarchate for nearly a century and has supported it in this move as well and the dispute with the Russian Church was high on the agenda of Vartholomeos' 25 October one-hour meeting  with US President Joe Biden and top advisors  in the Oval Office

Moscow severed ties with Ecumenical Patriarchate

The Moscow Patriarchate took the extreme move of cutting off communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and has since not memorialised Vartholomeos - who did not follow suit - in church liturgies.

Patriarchs memorialise and pray for all of their brethren at liturgies, reading their names from the so-called dyptichs in order of hierarchical rank, with Vartholomeos first as primus inter pares in the Eastern Orthodox world.

Brushing off the harsh verbal attacks of the Russian Church but also of the Kremlin, Vartholomeos has in the past said that the Moscow Patriarchate will in the end accept his decision because it has no other choice.

At an event held in his honour by the...