Cretan Theologians Unite: Condemning Attacks Against Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

The Pan-Cretan Association of Theologians has issued a resolution condemning the recent attacks by Russian state agencies against Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, expressing its full and unequivocal support for the Ecumenical Patriarchate. According to the resolution, the Association was informed “through recent publications of the offensive attack against His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew by a Russian state agency,” and also took note of the official statement issued by the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In the text of the resolution, the Association states emphatically: “We express our unwavering support for the venerable person of our Patriarch and the Ecumenical Patriarchate under attack, and we unequivocally condemn the ongoing assaults carried out by Russian state agencies and individuals.” Referring to the granting of autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine, the Pan-Cretan Association of Theologians stresses that “the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, as the Mother Church, decided in 2018 to grant autocephalous status to the Church of Ukraine for exclusively ecclesiastical and theological reasons, within the framework of its canonical jurisdiction and Orthodox ecclesiology.” The resolution also expresses deep concern over the nature of the attacks, which, as noted, are accompanied by “fabricated scenarios,” “false news,” and “insults” that “undermine the unity of the Church.” The Association underlines that such actions “do not deter the Ecumenical Patriarchate from fulfilling its canonical responsibilities.” In the concluding section of the resolution, the theologians of Crete declare: “We condemn the practices of defamation directed against the Ecumenical Patriarchate and our Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, express our full support for the Ecumenical Patriarchate and its Primate, and declare our opposition to actions that target church figures and undermine ecclesiastical institutions in the service of political expediency.”