Patriarch Bartholomew and Athonite abbot and hieromonk pray Vespers with Catholics in Belgium

Rochefort, Belgium, November 19, 2019

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Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and members of two Athonite monasteries took part in the evening service at a Catholic monastery in Belgium recently.

On Tuesday, November 12, the Patriarch, together with Abbot Alexios of Xenophontos Monastery and Hieromonk Theophilos of Pantocrator Monastery on Mt. Athos, visited the Abbey of Our Lady of St. Rémy in Rochefort, a monastery of the Cistercian monastic order. As can be seen in the pictures posted on the Facebook page of the Chevetogne Abbey, not only did they visit the monastery, but they participated in the monastery’s Vespers service, in the altar.

Xenophontos and Pantocrator Monasteries have also eagerly welcomed Pat. Bartholomew’s invasion of Ukrainian Church territory and have celebrated with the Ukrainian schismatics.

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Pat. Bartholomew was warmly welcomed by the entire monastic brotherhood and sat upon the bishop’s throne during the service. The entire brotherhood of Chevetogne Abbey also attended the service. Chevetogne Abbey was established in 1925 with the aim of proselytizing the Orthodox, and especially the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Catholic choir sang Greek-Slavic and Byzantine hymns during the service.

Pat. Bartholomew expressed his great joy at visiting the monastery and thanked the abbot for fraternal relations and the significant assistance that his monastery provides to the Greek Metropolis of Belgium. He then presented the Catholic abbot with a silver cross, and the monastery presented Pat. Bartholomew with a leather-bound Bible.

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11/19/2019

See also
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Comments
Dr gerasimos kambites MD MDiv FRCPC12/11/2019 9:54 pm
Anathema, Anathema Anathema--Mr Bartholomew is no longer Patriarch. It appears he is no longer Orthodox. It appears he is in heresy. Gerasimos-presbyter
Theo11/21/2019 9:25 pm
As someone who came lately from the Catholic world into the Orthodox world, and knowing more about the dysfunction and corruption in the Catholic world than I ever wanted to know, I can only hope that all Orthodox will work and pray hard to oppose any union between Greek East and Catholic West anytime soon. For if it happens with things as they presently are, the two will only speed each other's slide down into the gutter. And apostasy will be the result - for who would want to follow a sprawling Church immersed in corruption and decadence, with only lip service to Tradition and all manner of evil winked at and permitted in practice, if not in word? For that is the state of the Catholic world today, and appears to be the direction the Greek world is going. Makes me grateful I am not Greek, but Antiochian. And I hope and pray my Antiochian bishops stay strong against the corrupting tide.
Jesse Dominick11/21/2019 8:07 pm
Bertinos, that article does not say that Abp. Simon "participated in" the service, but rather that he visited, and as you can see from the pictures, he sat outside the altar and observed. We can legitimately wonder why he even visited during a service, but it cannot be said that he participated, as Patriarch Bartholomew clearly did.
Bertinos11/21/2019 4:06 pm
@John: The Day before, on November 11th, Russian Orthodox Archbishop Simon participated (together with 3 important Russian Orthodox priests in Belgium) in the enthronement of the new Abbot of the Roman Catholic Abbey at Chevetogne... http://www.archiepiskopia.be/index.php?content=article&category=news/2019&id=2019-11-11-1&lang=ru
JEinCA11/20/2019 12:01 pm
I pray that Patriarch Kirill is doing his best to prevent this schism from growing. I only hope and pray he handles with care the legitimate concerns of Patriarch Ilia of Georgia concerning Abkhazia and South Ossetia to prevent the Georgians from falling pray to the schismatics. There is without a doubt in my mind an immense pressure both internal and external for Patriarch Ilia to recognize the Ukrainian schismatics. I pray that this EP episode of conducting vespers with heretics serve as a warning to Georgia to remain within the canonical church.
Dimitrios11/20/2019 10:17 am
Bartholomew has repeatedly violated the Church canons. He is openly and publicly praying with heretics. The canons prescribe that he be defrocked and anathema. Why are our bishops silent. Why is a council not convened to address these violations and the invasion of the Church of Ukraine? Is a council only to be convened when Bartholomew wants to elevate the heretics as members of the Church of Christ. If the Bishops won't speak out, eventually the laity will, in apposition to the clergy, as was prophecised by St. Kosmas of Aetolia. The laity have already started calling out, Anathema!
Theodora Tsatas 11/20/2019 4:31 am
Clearly Patriarch Bartholomew has fallen to deception and should be declared ANATHEMA!!!
John11/19/2019 11:11 pm
Let any Bishop, or Presbyter, or deacon that merely joins in prayer with heretics be suspended, but if he has permitted them to perform any service as Clergymen, let him be deposed. – Canon XLV of the Holy Apostles
John11/19/2019 10:50 pm
Hosts of Orthodox Councils have condemned Papism as a heresy: The Council of 879-880 in Constantinople, under the Ecumenical Patriarch, Saint Photios the Great, Equal to the Apostles; Constantinopolitan Councils of 1170, 1341, 1450, 1722, 1838, and 1895 unequivocally condemned Papism as a heresy. What is more, all of the Saints who lived after the schism of 1054, such as St. Germanos Patriarch of Constantinople, St. Gregory Palamas, St. Mark of Ephesus, St Simeon of Thessalonica, St. Nicodemus the Hagiorite, St. Cosmas of Aetolia, St Nektarios of Pentapolis, Saint Justin Popović and others, with one voice, condemn Papism as a heresy. When the ‘consensus patrum’ of our Fathers and numerous councils unequivocally consider the EP’s actions heretical, WHY do our Bishops hesitate in removing this spawn of heresy?
Renato 11/19/2019 5:47 pm
Il patriarca Bartolomeo è da tempo privatamente uniate come diversi chierici e metropoliti che hanno studiato a Roma. Ciò è evidente da molti comportamenti. E la rovina dell'ortodossia.
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