Church of Greece clergyman now OCU bishop

(Romfea) - New Bishop of Olbia from the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Ukraine, Epiphanius, visited the Ecumenical Patriarchate on Tuesday, May 28. The Bishop was warmly welcomed by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

The Greek-born new hierarch, after having served many years in the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church of Greece, paid his respect to the Ecumenical Patriarch and asked for his blessing for his recent election and ordination by the Holy Synod of the Church of Ukraine.

The Bishop of Olbia send a message of respect, gratitude and love, on behalf of Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kiev and all Ukraine and the Hierarchs, to the Mother Church of Constantinople.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew wished the Bishop Epiphanius to be a good shepherd for the benefit of the people of Ukraine and especially the Greek Orthodox.

It must be noted that the Bishop of Olbia is the first archieratical election and ordination since Mother Church of Constantinople granted the Tomos of Autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine.

Comments

  1. The Anti-GnosticMay 28, 2019 at 12:18 PM

    A Greek hierarch for the Ukrainian national Church. Very Catholic of the EP.

    It's as if anti-phyletism is really about maintaining Hellenism.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 123May 29, 2019 at 9:46 AM

    If the archimandrite in question "served many years in the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church of Greece", then it makes perfect sense that his bishop would release him back to the EP. Whether the Metropolitan followed the CoG's rules for such releases is a different question, but one could argue that releasing a vociferously pro-EP line regarding Ukraine from within a more skeptical CoG was the best thing to do anyway - especially if such release could be done with a deniable wink and nod by the Synod to this Metropolitan.

    Phyletism is such a Rorschach test for Orthodox. Some see it meaning all ethnic groupings should be eliminated under a single bishop (e.g., the Russians under the EP in France), others see it meaning something more akin to the situation of the EP and the OCA in the U.S. (and for the Greeks in Ukraine, now) which have ethnic dioceses overlapping geographical dioceses.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bozo2UMay 29, 2019 at 11:24 PM

      Your clarification helps.
      Our Church, Old World style, names their country FIRST and then ”Orthodoxy” second. And then tell me to guard against phyletism!
      Strange to me.

      Delete
  3. The Anti-GnosticMay 29, 2019 at 1:42 PM

    Every Orthodox diocese in the Americas is in violation of the 1872 Council. But nobody has figured out what Orthodox ecclesiology is post-Empire, so nobody knows what to do.

    ReplyDelete

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