Moscow, November 21, 2019
Telegram
His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem is currently in Moscow to receive the Patriarch Alexei II Award for working towards Church unity from the International Public Foundation for the Unity of Orthodox Peoples.
The primate of Jerusalem also concelebrated the Divine Liturgy this morning with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral, after which he stated, “Today’s feast is not accidental, because it reminds us of the unity of the Church, which is the Divine-human Body of Christ. Today we had the opportunity to commune from the common chalice and to bear witness in the most striking way to the unity of Orthodoxy in Christ.”
According to a new statement from the Patriarchal Press service, Pat. Theophilos has offered to gather all the primates in Jordan to discuss the pressing issue of Church unity.
“Patriarch Theophilus of Jerusalem has proposed all the primates of the Local Churches to gather in Jordan to discuss the preservation of pan-Orthodox unity,” the message reads.
Vladimir Legoida, the acting Patriachal Press Secretary and head of the Synodal Department for Relations with Society and the Media writes that in his speech at the presentation of the award, Pat. Theophilos said that he was “deeply concerned about the difficulties clouding the life of the Church and the threats hanging over us because of our sad divisions.”
He therefore invites all the primates to a “brotherly meeting in love” in Jordan to “discuss the preservation of our unity in Eucharistic communion.”
To date, the Patriarch has affirmed his support for the canonical Ukrainian Church and its primate His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine many times over. Hierarchs from Ukraine concelebrated in Jerusalem on September 27, the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, and Pat. Theophilos assured them they would always be welcome and have his support, noting that he recognizes only Met. Onuphry.
