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The Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on Wednesday, Nov. 19 released a statement expressing disapproval of the White House’s upcoming meeting with Russian Orthodox clergy, stating that the meeting “seeks to solicit an American blessing upon its misleading tactics.”
In the statement, the Archons also urged the administration to cancel the meeting with “what are essentially Russian state agents,” and “to stand in solidarity with the suffering Ukrainian people and the canonical Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”
The Hill reported Monday, Nov. 17 that “lobbyists and clergy with ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, which has been a staunch backer of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, are campaigning this week on Capitol Hill and meeting with the Trump administration.”
The Archons called the clergy “boosters of Vladimir Putin’s unjust, immoral and monstrous war against Ukraine.” The Archons condemned “Russia’s use of the Orthodox Church” for its aggressive foreign policy tactics.
South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson stated about the meeting that “the Russian Orthodox Church is not a separate religious organization, but an extension of the Russian state.”
The Archons called attention to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a group aligned with the Moscow Patriarchate that separated from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which was granted autocephaly by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in 2019.
“That splinter group … is now targeting and killing members of the canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine, targeting civilians in order to sow terror among the population and make them too frightened to join the canonical Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” the statement from the Archons said.
“We urge the Trump administration to cancel this meeting with what are essentially Russian state agents, and to stand in solidarity with the suffering Ukrainian people and the canonical Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”
During his Apostolic Visit to the United States earlier this year, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew criticized the employment of religion to justify war.
Previously > ‘The world is a home for all people’: Ec. Patr. Bartholomew speaks at Concordia Summit
Addressing the Concordia Summit in September, His All-Holiness stated “wars of religion are very seldom fought for religious purposes. But religion becomes a screen behind which dark forces of greed, prejudice, and aggression work their misery in the world.”
“All of us who have studied history have seen how religion can be co-opted by secular power to establish fault lines between civilizations,” the Ecumenical Patriarch said.
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