The spiritual leader of the world's Eastern Orthodox Christians denounced Russia's attack on Ukraine during a visit to Poland on Tuesday, without mentioning Russia or its president, Vladimir Putin, by name.
According to The New York Times, Bartholomew I said that “it is simply impossible to imagine how much devastation this atrocious invasion has caused to the Ukrainian people and the entire world.” The leader participated this Tuesday in a press conference in Warsaw after meeting with Ukrainian refugees.
The Archbishop of Constantinople, is considered “the first among equals” among the leaders of the Orthodox churches, but has no authority over the jurisdictions of other patriarchs. Most have also denounced the invasion of Ukraine, with the notable exception of the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill I.
The publication notes that most Ukrainians are Orthodox Christians, but they are divided between the Russian and Ukrainian churches.
This is not the first time that Patriarch Bartholomew and Patriarch Kirill, an ally of Putin, have split up. The Russian Orthodox Church broke ties with Patriarch Bartholomew after he recognized the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 2019.
Although Patriarch Kirill has not condemned the Russian invasion, the main leader of the Russian church in Ukraine has, and the patriarch of the independent Ukrainian church has called on members to defend the country. “The outcome of the war could decide the future of religious authority in Ukraine,” the report says.
In Poland on Tuesday, Patriarch Bartholomew praised Polish citizens for hosting refugees from Ukraine and called their solidarity “a heavenly gift” and “the only thing that can overcome evil and darkness in the world.” More than two million people have crossed the border into Poland since the war began.
Although Patriarch Bartholomew did not mention Putin by name, a day earlier, in a statement addressed to the president of Poland before the two men met, he explicitly blamed Russia for the violence that has created a refugee crisis in Europe.
“My exclusive focus these days is to stand in solidarity and pray with the millions of refugees who have been forcibly displaced by the ongoing unjustified and unjustifiable aggression, as well as the horrendous and costly violence caused by Russia in its sovereign homeland of Ukraine,” he said.
Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, president of the conference of Roman Catholic bishops in Poland, who prayed for peace together with Patriarch Bartholomew on Tuesday, was more forceful in condemning Russia.
“Many of the aggressor's actions bear the hallmark of genocide,” the archbishop said Monday. Pope Francis has also spoken out against the war, but he has avoided naming Russia or Putin.
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