Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew paid respect to the victims of the two-year Great Famine in Ukraine (1932-1933) along with the Ukrainian ambassador to Ankara and members of the Ukrainian community living in Constantinople and elsewhere.
The Ecumenical Patriarch said that the food shortages and famine in
1923-1933 were a part of an inhumane plan of genocide and ethnic
cleansing of Ukraine people. The Soviet Union was acting against a
nation that “was fighting for their language and civilisation.” He also
argued that evil was leading to disasters in the world and that it was
our duty to fight against evil in order not to affect our lives anymore.
He also addressed the Ukrainian believers and spoke of the
conclusions of the Pan-Orthodox Council of Crete. In particular, he
stressed that the Orthodox Church was not indifferent of the problems of
the people. He added that it was concerned about the existential
questions of the people and, therefore, it was standing by its flock.
“Evil in any form should not make history.” He also said that the
Ecumenical Patriarchate was fighting for inter-Christian,
inter-religious, and intercultural dialogue and for the protection of
the environment.
The Ecumenical Patriarch compared the work of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate with the work of the Samaritan and said that the Phanar, as
the Mother Church, granted autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine and
peace should dominate in the Orthodox Church.