Directions to Orthodoxy - Church tension running high

Patriarch Bartholomew I blesses children during his visit at the Basilica of Mariazell, Austria, on Thursday, March 15, 2007. This post has been viewed 233 times.

References:
· Bartholomew I at celebrations for the 1020 years of Christianity in Kiev
· Ecumenical Patriarch on four-day visit and talks...
· Yushchenko discusses celebrations of the 1020th anniversary of Russia's Baptism with the Constantinople Patriarchate delegation
· Patriarch Bartholomew's intention to visit Ukraine behind Alexy II back is a hostile act against Russia, a historian believes

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Church tension running high
Posted on Wed Jul 23 2008

Kathimerini

The head of the Church of Greece, Archbishop Ieronymos, will attend a service in Kiev on Sunday despite threats by the Russian Orthodox Church that it could split from the Ecumenical Patriarchate over possible recognition of the Ukrainian Church.

The service in Kiev, held to mark 1,020 years since the Christianization of the Russians, has taken on an air of controversy after Russian Patriarch Alexy II launched a verbal attack against the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I.

Bartholomew responded yesterday by sending a letter to Alexy calling his remarks “insulting.”

Alexy had called for Orthodox leaders to boycott the service in Kiev but, in a vote held by Greece’s Holy Synod yesterday, it was decided by 11 votes in favor to one against that Ieronymos should go. He will be accompanied by the bishops of Chios and Preveza.

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