The Ecumenical Patriarchate has condemned what it described as a fresh attack by Russian state services against His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
A statement by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) on January 12 accused Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of destabilising Orthodox Christianity and acting with alleged backing from British intelligence.
The SVR labelled the Patriarch the “Constantinople Antichrist,” claiming he was seeking to weaken the Moscow Patriarchate by “sowing discord” within the Orthodox world.
The agency alleged he had already “dismembered Orthodox Ukraine” and was now targeting the Baltic states by encouraging clergy and faithful in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to break from Moscow-linked jurisdictions.
It also claimed he intended to grant autocephaly to the unrecognised Montenegrin Orthodox Church, a move it said would undermine the Serbian Orthodox Church, using overtly theological language to liken him to “false prophets… in sheep’s clothing.”
In response, the Ecumenical Patriarchate said the “Mother Church of Constantinople – the Mother also of the Church of Russia” expressed “profound sorrow” over the attack.
The Patriarchate noted it has consistently avoided responding to similar attacks since granting autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine in 2018, and said it would continue that stance.
It stressed that “fanciful scenarios, false news, insults, and fabricated information” would not deter its ministry or ecumenical mission.
Source: Orthodox Times
