Greek Church sends missive to Phanar
Two bishops representing the Hierarchy of the Church of Greece are to present Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios tomorrow with a resolution passed last Thursday in which the Greek Church claims the final say in naming bishops to head sees in which the Patriarchate claims spiritual jurisdiction. The issue has severely strained relations between the Church of Greece and the Ecumenical Patriarchate in recent months. Bishops Evstathios of Sparta and Pandeleimon of Xanthi are to hand over the resolution at the Patriarchate in the Phanar district of Istanbul but have not been authorized to discuss anything with the patriarch. Two of nine bishops who walked out of the Greek Hierarchy’s meeting last Thursday in protest before the vote met yesterday with the partriarch of their own volition. Bishops Theoklitos of Ioannina and Prokopios of Philippi made no comment after their meeting.
