Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew led the Patriarchal and Polyarchieratic Divine Liturgy at the Katholikon of the Holy Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monastery of Valoukli. Hierarchs from the Ecumenical Throne, as well as the Holy Churches of Bulgaria and Ukraine, participated in the service on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers.
This event confirms the report by Orthodoxtimes.com, which highlighted the co-liturgy at the Phanar with the Hierarchs of the two Churches. It signifies the de facto recognition of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine by the Church of Bulgaria, bolstering Constantinople’s position and dealing a blow to the Russian Church.
Notably, Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine attended the funeral service of the late Patriarch Neophyte of Bulgaria.
The Divine Liturgy was co-celebrated by various Metropolitans, including Aenea Makarios, Theodoritos of Laodicea, Nikolai of Plovdiv, Kyprianos of Stara Zagora, and others from Bulgaria and Ukraine.
In his address after the Divine Liturgy, the Ecumenical Patriarch expressed his happiness at the participation of Hierarchs from the Churches of Bulgaria and Ukraine.
He stated, “A sign of the Lord’s everlasting presence within us is the concelebration with our brother Hierarchs from two beloved daughter Churches of the Church of Constantinople, namely the Autocephalous Churches of Bulgaria and Ukraine.”
The service was attended by Metropolitans from various regions, clergymen from Bulgaria, Greece, and Ukraine, as well as ambassadors and believers from Constantinople and abroad.
Following the service, the Ecumenical Patriarch performed a Trisagion at the Tomb of his predecessor, Patriarch Demetrios, honoring all the Patriarchs, Hierarchs, and Great Benefactors of the Nation buried in the Monastery’s courtyard.
He proceeded to the nearby Second Cemetery of the Monastery, where he conducted a Trisagion for the repose of the souls, “of our fathers and brothers, whose names the Lord only knows.”
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