The speaker of the “OCU” Yevstratiy Zorya reported on the trip of the delegation of this structure to the Phanar to participate the events dedicated to the day of the namesake of Patriarch Bartholomew.
He also stated that the hierarchs of the Churches of Jerusalem, Cyprus, Greek and Georgia were present during the liturgy. Without naming their titles and names.
At the same time, phanariots` Greek resources do not mention the participation of representatives of the Jerusalem Church at all, reporting on the arrival of only two “delegations of autocephalous churches” – Cyprus and Ukraine (that is, the “OCU”). Note that the delegation of the Cypriot Church was headed by Metropolitan of Constantine Vasilios (Karagiannis). As for the hierarchs of the Georgian and Greek Church, their participation is mentioned in passing and their names are not named either, in contrast to the careful listing of the names and positions of officials who attended the liturgy.
Separately, it is reported about the congratulations of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, read out by the Consul General of Ukraine in Istanbul, Alexander Haman.
Supporters of the OCU, of course, can try again to use such information to promote the idea of “hybrid recognition” of the OCU by the Jerusalem or Georgian churches. They have already used this scheme more than once to create fake messages about the position of one or another Local Church.
Although, the same Zorya in the comments to his post noted that this is just a “joint prayer” (we would specify – just the simultaneous presence in the same room), which does not mean some kind of “actual recognition.” Obviously, he did not once again irritate the GOC with stupid statements and distortions, so as not to provoke another refutation from the leadership of the Georgian Church. We can recall, for example, the situation with the statements of the ex-speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andrei Parubiy about the support of the GOC for the autocephaly of the “OCU”, which were immediately denied by the Georgian Patriarchate.
This tactic is somewhat reminiscent of an attempt by the Ukrainian authorities to ascribe to US President Joe Biden the words of support for granting Ukraine a MAP to NATO.
In the context of this scandal, the OCU should also monitor its statements. So that it doesn’t work “as always”.