Washington, D.C., October 15, 2024
Photo: oca.org
On Saturday, October 12, His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon of Washington and All America and Canada, head of the autocephalous Orthodox Church in America, met with Sam Brownback, former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
The meeting, which began with a brief tour of the cathedral, focused on several critical topics including religious freedom, the Orthodox Church in America’s role in U.S. society and the broader Orthodox world, and global religious persecution, the OCA reports.
Their discussion emphasized the importance of protecting religious freedom both domestically and internationally, and addressed the growing concerns of persecution faced by Christians and other religious groups worldwide.
Presumably, their conversation touched upon the situation in Ukraine. Recall that the OCA supports the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, rejecting the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”
Met. Tikhon visited the persecuted UOC in June and concelebrated with His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine and other Ukrainian hierarchs.
On the other hand, Brownback has openly voiced support for the schismatic OCU and has worked to convince hierarchs to recognize it.
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