Patriarch Bartholomew said that his prerogatives are rooted in the decisions of the Ecumenical Councils and legally binding for all within Orthodoxy.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew yesterday sent a clear message to Russia vis-à-vis the Ukraine issue, stating that Constantinople has no intention whatsoever of giving in to pressure.

While addressing an audience at an event in Istanbul celebrating the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Feriköy Greek community, His All-Holiness made it clear that his privileges are absolutely legitimate, and therefore the Russian Orthodox Church will have to comply with the decisions on Ukraine.

“Whether our Russian brothers like it or not, soon enough they will get behind the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s solution, as they will have no other choice,” the site Ortodoxia.info cites the words of the Primate of the Constantinople Church.

Patriarch Bartholomew said that he was well aware of the Russian side’s efforts in funding the writing of articles and creating ‘black’ propaganda in order to strike back at the Ecumenical Patriarchate, adding: “God gave us two ears to hear from all sides.”

Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East and Patriarch Irinej of Serbia called upon Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople to restore “fraternal dialogue” with the Russian Orthodox Church to resolve the conflict caused by the Ukrainian church issue.