As widely expected, at today’s extraordinary meeting of the Holy
Synod of the Church of Greece, hierarchs led by the local church
primate, Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and all Greece, decided to
officially recognize the Autocephaly of the new Orthodox Church in
Ukraine led by Metropolitan Epiphanios of Kyiv and all Ukraine.
Reports indicate that the two primates will concelebrate the Divine Liturgy on October 19th in Thessaloniki, Greece.
The Church of Greece is the first local church to recognize the
Autocephaly bestowed upon the OCU by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in
January 2019. The questions are now: will other local churches follow
the Church of Greece and how will the Church of Moscow respond?
What follows is a message from Metropolitan Epiphanios to Archbishop Ieronymos.
I am grateful to my Brother in Christ, His Beatitude Ieronymos,
Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, President of the Holy Synod of the
Church of Greece, and Brother Hierarchs of the Council of Hierarchs,
for today determining to support and follow the canonical and
historical decisions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, opening the
possibility of full interaction between our two Local Autocephalous
Churches in all spheres.
The histories of our two ancient nations, Greece and Ukraine,
include many shared pages of friendship and cooperation. The
establishment of full Eucharistic unity and official relations between
the Local Churches of Greece and Ukraine is a new page that will
forever be bound in our history and in our hearts.
I hope that in the near future I will have the pleasure of
visiting Athens, close to my heart, and personally conveying our
feelings of love and respect to His Beatitude Archbishop Ieronymos,
Brother Hierarchs, and the entire Church of Greece.