International Conference: the Patriarchate of Constantinople as an instrument of politics, the destructive activity of Patriarch Bartholomew

The Center for geostrategic studies organized 26. march in Belgrade International Conference entitled: the Patriarchate of Constantinople as an instrument of politics: the destructive activity of Patriarch Bartholomew.

The conference was attended by: Metropolitan of zaporozhia and Melitopol Luka, Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Dragana Trifkovic, general director of the Center for geostrategic studies, priest Julian race, president of the Synodal sector of missionary activity of the Moldavian Orthodox Church, priest Nikola Simic, Serbian Orthodox Church, Diogenis valavanidis, President of the Center for the protection of Christian identity, Ruslan Kalinchuk, Ukrainian Orthodox missionary, Russian Orthodox Church, priest Miladin Mitrovic, Serbian Orthodox Church and Dane čanković, president of the Association choice is ours.

His Grace Metropolitan of Zaporizhia and Melitopol Luka (Ukrainian Orthodox Church), he spoke on the subject of "Schism or Unity: where does the politics of the Patriarchate of Constantinople lead? He said, "it's 2016. in the stage of preparation for the Council of Crete, a fundamental decision was adopted between the Orthodox churches that autocephalous status can be granted only with the consent of all local Orthodox churches.“ "However, at the request of the patriarch of Constantinople, the topic of autocephaly was removed from the discussion of the Council, and the previously reached agreements were annulled. After that, Patriarch Bartholomew proclaimed his right to grant autocephaly unilaterally, despite the absence of such powers in the canons of the Church.“ He noted in his speech that "claims for special rights and privileges by Constantinople have existed before, but are today expressed in a more radical form. It has come to the point that some persistently demand that Patriarch Bartholomew be called not "first among equals", but "first without equals", which has no basis either in the Holy canons or in church tradition," the Metropolitan said. In the final part of the presentation, Metropolitan Luke concluded that it is necessary to take comprehensive measures in order to protect the canonical order, strengthen the Conciliar principle of the governance of the church and oppose the unilateral decisions of the throne of Constantinople that threaten the unity of orthodoxy. Among other things, Metropolitan Luke believes that it is necessary to intensify informational opposition to the politicization of church life, which in recent years has become an instrument of pressure on canonical churches.

Photo: Metropolitan of Zaporizhia and Melitopol Luka

Dragana Trifkovicthe Director General of the Center for geostrategic studies spoke on the topic: "Western crusade against Moscow". In her presentation, she analyzed the influence of the American intelligence service CIA on the Patriarchate of Constantinople. "Declassified CIA document of 11. August 1948. he documents the details of Operation Athenagoras, whose goal was to force patriarch Maximus V to resign and to bring Athenagoras in his place upon the blessing of US President Truman. This pacified animosities and normalized relations between the two very opposing states of Greece and Turkey, by directing hostility towards Moscow under the form of the fight against communism,“ Trifkovic said.

Analyzing the continuity of the activities of the Patriarchate of Constantinople since the Second World War, Trifkovic said: "all the above directions of action are also characteristic of the successors of Patriarch Athenagoras in Phanar, Patriarch Dimitri I, and especially of Patriarch Bartholomew who launched the Special Operation "schism". This confirms the fact that anti-communist activity was only a pretext in the US geopolitical struggle with Moscow and that it continues with a direct attack on orthodoxy.“ In the concluding part of the speech, Dragana Trifkovic appealed to all those involved in the protection of human rights to pay special attention to the threat to religious rights of people.

Photo By Dragana Trifkovic

Priest Julian Race, president of the Synodal sector of missionary activity of the Moldavian Orthodox Church and professor of the Orthodox spiritual Academy of Moldova spoke on the topic: "Canonical and historical milestones of the work of the "Bessarabian metropolis" and the acceptability of joint service with its clergy". In his speech, he pointed out that "against the background of the illegal practice of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to create parallel church structures on the territory of another Orthodox Church (for example, Estonia and Ukraine), another serious dividing line has emerged in world Orthodoxy. This is related to the intensification of the expansion of the Romanian Patriarchate in the Moldavian direction with the help of the project "Bessarabian metropolis". This process can not only lead to a break in the Eucharistic communion between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Romanian Orthodox Church, but also provoke the Bucharest church to expand the scope of its interference in the affairs of other local churches,“ Father Julian noted.

The priest of the Moldavian Orthodox Church believes that the "renewal of the activities of the" Bessarabian metropolis " creates numerous canonical and theological problems and contradicts the basic norms of the Ecumenical Orthodox Church. Its activities violate the traditional jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church and show a tendency towards a nationalist approach to the detriment of the geographical principles of orthodoxy,“ father Julian concluded.

Diogenis Valavanidisthe president of the Center for the protection of Christian identity emphasized in his speech “Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople has invaded the field of jurisdiction of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, and at the same time, declared an autocephalous schism, the so-called. Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Such an act by the Constantinople canon-intercessor was one of the reasons, which ignited the spark of conflict in Ukraine, and triggered a wave of State terror by the Ukrainian security forces against members of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UPC).“

Regarding the influence of foreign intelligence services on the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Valavanidis pointed out " to the American administration and the CIA, which used the Patriarchate of Constantinople and its influence in the Orthodox world, in order to achieve its geopolitical and geostrategic goals. Recently, however, the ambition of taking over the initiative from British intelligence service MI6 has been noted. Such British tendencies became more visible, especially after the arrival of Donald Trump at the head of the US administration, who immediately after taking office issued an executive order to open a special White House Office for faiths, with the aim of protecting vulnerable Christian communities with his activities.“ In the concluding part of his presentation, Mr. Valavanidis stated "that all non-canonical and perjury actions would be much clearer and more understandable to the public, if the archives of the secret services were opened".

Photo By Diogenis Valavanidis

Priest Nikola Simic from the Serbian Orthodox Church, he pointed out that it is necessary to make a cross-section of the behavior of Patriarch Bartholomew, but also of his predecessors Meletius, Athenagoras and Dimitri. "The seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchs and their functioning is extremely politicized," said father Nikola. He said it was 2019. he spoke to Metropolitan Amfilohije about Patriarch Bartholomew, with whom he had studied in Rome, and asked him how he commented on the fact that Patriarch Bartholomew supported the schism instead of adding it up. Metropolitan Amfilohije replied, "He is a man of the Pentagon." Also, father Nikola pointed out that it was a public secret that the Council in Crete was financed with money from the United States. "Unfortunately, the actions of Patriarch Bartholomew are also reflected in certain bishops of other local churches and their dioceses within local churches," father Nikola said. He assessed the actions of Patriarch Bartholomew as ruinous: "Patriarch Bartholomew is politicized but also militarized, as can be seen from his actions on Ukraine and the Holy Mountain. Together with the CIA and the Greek police, Patriarch Bartholomew invaded the Holy Mountain and the Esphigmen monastery, which is still in isolation under house arrest today,“ Father Nicholas said. In the concluding part of his speech, he pointed out that if Patriarch Bartholomew continues his activities, it will further destroy the life of the Orthodox Church.

Ruslan Kalinchuka Ukrainian Orthodox missionary speaking in front of the Russian Orthodox Church pointed out that the actions of Patriarch Bartholomew in the Baltic countries lead to the creation of a number of problems.

"Interior Minister of Estonia Laurie Laenemets presented to the country's parliament a draft law that would ban the Estonian Orthodox Church because of its canonical relationship with the Moscow Patriarchate. But that is not all-the ban of the EPC MP was supported by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, through its representatives of the so-called Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church.“ Kalinchuk noted that the Latvian authorities followed the example from Estonia: "inspired by the example of their neighbors, the Latvian authorities decided to take a similar path, registering the Latvian Orthodox autonomous church in the jurisdiction of the Constantinople Patriarchate in October 2019. years. But the state authorities decided not to stop halfway: in September 2022. the country's legislative body has adopted by its standards an outrageous decision to declare the "autocephaly"of the Latvian Orthodox Church, which is a self-governing Orthodox Church within the Moscow Patriarchate. A similar situation is also in Lithuania where "the Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople has established its Exarchate in Lithuania. The banned priests became the first" priests " of the Exarchate, and in January 2024. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken presented them with the International Prize for religious freedom,“ Kalinchuk said.

Priest Miladin Mitrovic from the Serbian Orthodox Church, he pointed out that "today it is becoming too obvious that the open schism within Orthodoxy, which was directly caused by the granting of Tomos on autocephaly to Ukrainian schismatics by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, is only the culmination of decades of deliberate oppression of the Orthodox faith by Westerners.Imperial circles." Father Miladin believes that "Phanar, in the person of Patriarch Bartholomew, voluntarily accepted the role of one in a series of political levers that has a strategic goal to break the unity not only of the Russian-Ukrainian relationship, but also the very nature of the unity of the Orthodox Church". "The main reason for the blind pursuit of American interests by Constantinople and especially by Patriarch Bartholomew, exclusively of a financial nature – in the spirit of" American democracy "Washington can leave both the financial and political" straitjacket" of Bartholomew without seeking anyone's consent, the moment he denounces their obedience, " says father Miladin. In the concluding part of his speech, he stressed that "it is necessary to defend the purity of the canonical tradition preserved by the Orthodox Church and to reject all attempts at its papist distortion, whether it comes from the West or from the East. It is necessary to thoroughly and comprehensively identify the dogmatic, canonical and moral-ethical inconsistency of the claims and actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and especially its Patriarch Bartholomew.“

Photo By Dane Čanković

Dane Čankovićthe president of the Association of choice is ours from Banja Luka pointed out that the organization he has been leading for ten years has been dealing with the topic of breaking orthodoxy. "So far, we have organized numerous activities, including the hanging of posters with the image of Patriarch Bartholomew and the message patriarch of Constantinople until 6. January 2019 years, and since then the taxman and the tax collector. We also organized scientific meetings that dealt with the activities of Patriarch Bartholomew and his organization of non-canonical structures that he plans to hand over to the pope,“ said Čanković.

You can watch the entire conference video.

Source: Center for Geostrategic Studies

27. March 2025.