Official Communiqué from Constantinople

(EP) - The Holy and Sacred Synod convened under the chairmanship of His All-Holiness for its regular sessions from Tuesday, November 27, to Thursday, November 29, 2018.

During its sessions, it examined all of the items on the agenda, upon which the appropriate decisions were made, including the following:

a. Upon the recommendation of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, within the context of his canonical responsibility, the Holy and Sacred Synod reorganized the status of the “Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of the Russian Tradition in Western Europe,” thereby entrusting its faithful to the Hierarchs of the Ecumenical Throne in Europe.

b. The Holy and Sacred Synod, in unanimously accepting the proposal of the Autonomous Church of Finland under the Ecumenical Patriarchate, recorded in the Hagiologion of the Orthodox Church the Venerable John of Valamo (1873-1958), and the Holy Martyr and Confessor, John of Ilomantsi (1884-1918), both of whom lived and worked there.

c. Finally, in the context of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s previously-made decision to grant autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine, and in anticipation of the issuance of the Patriarchal and Synodal Tomos, the Holy and Sacred Synod drafted the Ukrainian Church’s Constitutional Charter.

At the conclusion of these sessions, His All-Holiness and His Eminence Metropolitan Panteleimon of Vryoula, on behalf of the Holy and Sacred Synod, exchanged festal addresses for the upcoming feasts of Christmas and the New Year.

At the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the 29th of November, 2018

From the Chief Secretariat
of the Holy and Sacred Synod