The Patriarchate responds to Moscow: Fake news, insults and fabricated information

In its statement, the Ecumenical Patriarchate expresses its “deepest sorrow” for this new attack, emphasizing that this time the accusations come directly from Russian state services.

The statement of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
“The Mother Church of Constantinople – Mother of this Church of Russia – expresses its deepest sorrow for the new Russian attack against the person of His Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, which was launched, this time, by the country’s state services. Since 2018, when the Ecumenical Patriarchate decided to grant Autocephalous status to the Church of Ukraine, the Mother Church has avoided commenting on the countless similar attacks that have come from either ecclesiastical or political centers and figures in Russia. It does the same today.

“The fanciful scenarios, fake news, insults and fabricated information of all kinds of propagandists do not discourage the Ecumenical Patriarchate from continuing its ministry and ecumenical mission.”

The response comes after the attack by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), which spoke of British secret services’ support for the Ecumenical Patriarch. According to the TASS news agency, the SVR reports that Britain, by supporting Bartholomew, is trying to sideline the Russian Orthodox Church.