On March 19, Greek Church to consider canonical recognition of OCU

The Greek Church will consider the issue of recognition of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine at the next meeting of the Hierarchical Synod (Council of Bishops) which will be held on March 19-20, said the head of the Church, Archbishop Jeronimus of Athens, according to Tserkvarium, referring to the Greek media Romphea.

A session of the Permanent Synod (13 bishops) is currently held to address a range of issues related to the life of the Greek Church, including the wages of the clergy. As part of this Permanent Synod, the Ukrainian Question was also discussed, but it was decided earlier this year to pass it on to the supreme governing body, the Hierarchical Synod.

Archbishop Jeronimus mentioned that the relevant commissions dealing with this issue are still conducting their session. Despite the fact that the relationship between Athens and Phanar is experiencing a certain crisis, it is expected that the Church of Greece will not challenge the decision of the Ecumenical Patriarch regarding autocephaly of the OCU, but this still remains to be seen in the actual practice.

Earlier, similar statements were made by other representatives of this Church. One of the Greek hierarchs said there would be no discussion if the recognition is needed. They admit, because otherwise “we can not be with the Russians.”

In a recent interview with Antenna TV Channel, the US ambassador to Greece, Jeffrey Payett, also pointed out to the fierce pressure that Russians exert on Orthodoxy in Greece to undermine the position of the Ecumenical Patriarch.

In the summer of 2018, a diplomatic scandal burst out between Russia and Greece, the latter even deported from the country four Russians, who, among other things, were accused of bribing a metropolitan of the Greek Church.