Constantinople, August 22, 2018
spzh.news The next meeting of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, originally scheduled for September 10, has been postponed until October, reports lb.ua with reference to sources within the Church.
It was expected that the Synod would come to a decision on the question of granting a tomos of autocephaly to a united Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but President Petro Poroshenko and the Ukrainian schismatics who petitioned the Ecumenical Throne for autocephaly will have to wait at least another month.
This is not the first time the matter has been delayed. It was previously announced in May that the decision was being postponed until July.
The meeting is now tentatively scheduled for October 9-11.
Poroshenko initially declared that autocephaly would be granted in time for the celebration of the 1,030th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’ that was celebrated in late July.
A Synaxis of all the bishops of the Ecumenical Patriarchate will still be held September 1-3 as planned, headed by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. It is expected that the Ukrainian situation will be discussed, according to the site of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA. However, a final decision on the matter is the prerogative of the Holy Synod, not the Synaxis of all bishops.
Pat. Bartholomew will meet with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia in Constantinople on August 31, leading up to the Synaxis meeting. Presumably, they will discuss the matter of the Ukrainian Church, which is canonically part of the Russian Church.
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