Defense of The Faith
Who is Metropolitan Gregorios of Ankara?
What we know about the author of the “Kyiv Chronicle.”
On September 28, UOJ-America published a Greek-language document leaked from the offices of the Ecumenical Patriarchate (EP). Entitled “Chronicle of the Week of the Clergy-Laity Council in Kyiv,” the document comprises an internal report to His All-Holiness, Patriarch Bartholomew, on the challenges faced by the EP delegation to Ukraine in December 2018. The delegation was tasked with successfully carrying out a “Unification Council” and creating a new “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.” What they encountered was government intrigue, outrageous uncanonical demands from schismatic leaders, and – unbelievably – unlawful detention by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Several factors led to the near-certain identification of the document’s author as Metropolitan Gregorios (Frangakis) of Ankara. In December of 2018, Metropolitan Gregorios was still a hierodeacon and a deputy secretary of the EP’s Holy Synod. Below is a short biography of His Eminence, Metropolitan Gregorios.
