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Swiss Elder: Patr. Bartholomew Faced 'Intense' US Pressure Over Ukraine

13:24 Author Tobias Straney

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Photo: J. Mindala/Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate

Schema-Archimandrite Gabriel (Bunge) said the Ecumenical Patriarch told a Greek ambassador that intense American pressure led him to intervene in the Ukrainian Church.

ROVEREDO, SWITZERLAND — In an interview with UOJ-Germany, Schema-Archimandrite Gabriel (Bunge) said that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew intervened in Ukrainian Church affairs under intense pressure from the United States, citing what he described as a reliable source for an account of a private conversation between Patr. Bartholomew and a Greek ambassador.

The 86-year-old Swiss elder, who lives at the Monastery of the Exaltation of the Cross in Roveredo, said that Patr. Bartholomew did not act of his own free will, offering information "that few people know."

He then gave the specific account: “I know from a reliable source that Patr. Bartholomew told a Greek ambassador that if the Americans had not put such intense pressure on him, he would never have done it – he would never have split the Church.” The monk added that he believed the intervention was intended to weaken Russia, noting that the Ukrainian Church had previously been more closely connected with the Moscow Patriarchate institutionally.

Elder Gabriel continued by saying that other Orthodox primates had also faced pressure. Referring to Abp. Ieronymos of Athens, he stated, “That is precisely what disappoints me. Abp. Ieronymos of Athens – also a worthy man – came under tremendous pressure as well and gave in.” He then asked why the primates had not resisted, saying, “But why did these men, our primates, not simply put their panagias on the table and say: ‘No, not with me. I do not want to stain my good name’?”

The elder also criticized the ecclesiastical consequences of the Ukrainian schism, saying that a bishop or patriarch responsible for a schism could not erase the resulting sin.

“A bishop or patriarch who has caused a schism in the Church, whatever the reasons, cannot wash away that sin even with his own blood,” he said. “That is what the Holy Fathers teach.”

The archimandrite added that he believed history would ultimately preserve the record of what the UOC has endured.

Previously, the UOJ reported that Metr. Anthony called on UOC faithful to make daily prostrations for their persecutors.