Patriarch of Jerusalem once again said that he expects the restoration of the "Amman format" with the participation of four Primates

"I was very inspired by the leaders' willingness to meet, and I look forward to new opportunities to share my thoughts with them in the coming months," the Patriarch said in an interview with Izvestia newspaper on January 29, according to Credo.press.

He expressed confidence that the communication of the Primates of Local Churches provides the best solution to global problems.

"In Orthodox Churches, it is vital that we continue to meet with each other in the spirit of Christian love and brotherhood and discuss issues that divide us all too easily. Living hospitably and sharing everything, we invite the Holy Spirit to unite us," Theophilus said.

A meeting of Primates and delegations of six local Orthodox Churches, where issues of unity of "world Orthodoxy" were discussed, was held on February 26, 2020, in Amman. It was attended by the heads of four churches: Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev), Patriarch Theophilus III of Jerusalem, Patriarch Irinej of Serbia and Metropolitan Rostislav of the Czech lands and Slovakia. Two more Churches – Romanian and Polish – sent their delegations to the meeting. The final communique of the Amman meeting provided for the next meeting of its participants before the end of 2020.

As RISU has reported, the formal initiator of the meeting in Amman in November 2019 was Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem. He made the proposal bypassing Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, after meeting with Kirill and Putin, when he received an award from the Russian "foundation for the unity of Orthodox peoples". The Russian Orthodox Church proposed this as an initiative of Jerusalem. But in fact, it was Moscow that promoted the idea. She wanted to create a new platform for condemning the actions of Constantinople in Ukraine.

Orthodoxy is represented by 15 autocephalous churches. Four of them (excluding the OCU) made it clear that they would not go to the meeting of the Russian Orthodox Church in Amman. These are the patriarch of Constantinople, the Archbishop of Alexandria, Cyprus and Greece, Heads of the four largest Churches. The Russian Orthodox Church broke off relations with Constantinople, Greece and Alexandria because of the recognition of the OCU.

In January 2020, a second attempt was made by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, at the suggestion of Moscow, to convene a meeting in Amman to create opposition to the Ecumenical Patriarch because of his "interference" in the Ukrainian church crisis. The Patriarch of Jerusalem refused all his letters of invitation to the primates.

Patriarch Bartholomew in January sent a letter to Jerusalem "in a strict tone", in which he reminded that Theophilus is not competent for such steps, so the "initiator" of the Amman meeting no longer insisted on his initiative. The only Church that agreed to attend the meeting was the Church of the Czech lands and Slovakia. The Primates of the Greek and Cypriot churches publicly refused to travel.

Thus, despite the entire arsenal of available funds, Russia has not been able to form a grand coalition against Constantinople. Now the general state of orthodoxy on the church map does not look in favor of the Russian Orthodox Church, especially after the incursion of the Russian Orthodox Church to the canonical territory of the Patriarchate of Alexandria in Africa.

The OCU speaker Archbishop Yevstratiy Zorya commented on attempts to call a meeting in Amman:

"Given the fact that the situation in the Jerusalem patriarchate itself is balancing between different centers of influence and parties, it is obvious that no one wants to try their luck and get a "bomb" that can explode with unforeseen consequences. Moscow takes advantage of this. Our Church understands the very difficult position of the patriarch of Jerusalem, who allegedly took the initiative to hold this meeting. And he himself, like others, knows that the initiative was not his."

Archbishop Yevstratiy added: "The Church canons and traditions of the past and present show that only the Ecumenical Patriarch has the right to make such an initiative, that is, to hold and preside over such a synod (meeting). Moreover, only the Synod, where the Orthodox Church of Ukraine will be equally present, has the right to exist. Equal participation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in all Orthodox meetings is not its right or privilege, but, as it is written in the Tomos, it is its duty. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine will always defend this duty."