Trump responds favourably to Bartholomew in Washington
New Sinai Archbishop elected ● Progress for Halki Seminary ● Legal fight over UOC-MP ban ● GRU–Serbia links and hybrid attacks on religious sites in Europe
Welcome to Divine Dispatch, your expertly curated weekly briefing on the pulse of church geopolitics.
The situation around the Sinai monastery appears to be settling after the election of a new Archbishop and abbot, following significant involvement from Athens. While the Sinai saga unfolded, the Ecumenical Patriarch was in Washington, D.C., meeting with Trump and JD Vance. Interesting reports are emerging from that meeting, but for now, Bartholomew seems to have won favour with Trump, prompting him to raise the important issue of Halki Seminary during his meeting with Turkish President Erdogan. Speculation about a possible revocation of Ukraine’s autocephaly proved, as expected, far-fetched, as Bartholomew firmly defended the 2019 decision, stating that it will never be revoked.
Last but not least, there is the story of hybrid tactics targeting religious sites in France and Germany, used to sow divisions and destabilise European nations through religious tensions.
Stories that caught my attention:
📌 Let’s begin 3,2,1
1. 🇪🇬 The Sinai Monastery has appointed a new Archbishop following internal turmoil
After months of uncertainty and a prolonged crisis over the future of St Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai, the monastery appears to be heading towards a resolution.
The former Archbishop Damianos, who had led the monastery for over fifty years, resigned last month after a failed attempt to suppress dissent within the monastery.
A group of monks staged a coup against him over the summer. This revealed the Patriarchate of Jerusalem’s interest in controlling the monastery and the Greek state’s involvement in diffusing the situation and securing a compatible successor.
In his resignation letter, Archbishop Damianos blamed Moscow for the current divisions in the Orthodox world. The new Archbishop of Sinai and abbot of the monastery, Symeon (Papadopoulos), will be enthroned later this month (October). The appointment of the new Archbishop will enable the monastery to sign an agreement with the Egyptian authorities (supported by Athens) that should secure its future.
You can read Archbishop Damianos resignation letter here [Orthodox Times].
2. 🇺🇸🇹🇷 Trump presses Erdogan on reopening of Halki theological seminary
Following his meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch in Washington DC, US President Donald Trump raised the issue of reopening the Halki theological seminary with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the end of September.
Trump was seen as an intermediary, speaking to Erdogan in front of the cameras and saying: “The Greek Orthodox Church was here and they would really like some help. I said I would bring it up.” Erdogan reassured Trump by stating that he would discuss the issue with the Ecumenical Patriarch upon his return to Istanbul. “We are ready to do whatever we can that falls on our part.”
The Ecumenical Patriarchate has been openly advocating for the seminary’s reopening in September next year.
3. 🇺🇦 Legal wrangling delays final step in Ukraine’s UOC ban
The ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC-MP) is stuck in a legal labyrinth after Ukraine’s state body for Ethnopolitics and freedom of conscience (DESS) has formally asked the courts to order a ban on the UOC operations of the main administrative centre of the UOC-MP (the Kyiv Metropolis). This is considered the last step in the long process of severing the ties between the UOC and the Russian Orthodox Church.
Maintaining ties with the Russian Orthodox Church has been outlawed in Ukraine. The UOC refused to comply with its demands to cease relations with Moscow at the end of August and has formally designated the church, the UOC-MP, as affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church.
The UOC appealed, but the appeal was rejected. The court hearing, scheduled for 30 September, has been postponed for a month. In response to the latest developments, it provoked furious reactions from the Russian side.
4. 🇺🇦🇷🇺180 UOC-MP clergy face criminal charges
Ukraine’s Security Service has released figures and additional data indicating that since the full-scale invasion began in 2022, it has opened 180 criminal cases against UOC priests, including 23 bishops. The most common charge has been justifying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and collaboration. So far, 38 clergy members have been convicted.
Breakdown of the charges includes:
5. 🇺🇦 Bartholomew reaffirms Ukraine’s autocephaly: ‘We will never retreat’
The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew demonstrated resolve in relation to the Ukrainian church question and his decision to grant autocephaly (church independence) to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in 2019.
Last month, he gave an interview for a French TV channel in which he defended his “rights that were bestowed …by the Ecumenical Councils” which have been in place for centuries, reaffirming that some of the privileges “belong exclusively to the Ecumenical Patriarch” but that neither he nor his predecessors “have ever exercised them to impose our will or our opinion upon other Churches.”
Speaking about the Ukrainian autocephaly, Bartholomew stated that Ukraine has got the right to obtain autocephaly and that “the Ecumenical Patriarchate will never retreat, nor revoke the autocephaly it has granted to Ukraine.”
Only days later, he once again addressed the issue after meeting with US President Trump.
“They [Ukraine] had repeatedly asked us for it, we were convinced that it was their right to have this ecclesiastical independence from Moscow, which, as we all know, has proven to be an enemy of the Ukrainian people,” he stated.
You can read the full report here (Orthodox Times) and here (Kathimerini)
6. 🇪🇪 Estonian President blocks church law, sends it to Supreme Court
Estonia’s President Alar Karis refused to promulgate the Churches and Congregations Act after Estonia’s Parliament, the Riigikogu, passed the legislation in September. He referred the legislation for review to the Supreme Court.
The key piece of legislation envisions making it mandatory for the Estonian Christian Orthodox Church (EKOK), which is affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate, to sever its ties. Estonia’s Parliament voted for the third time after the President, Karis, rejected the legislation as unconstitutional, stating that the security challenges related to the linkage of the Estonian Christian Orthodox Church can be addressed through the current Penal Code in Estonia.
“The problem is not the lack of legal means, but their limited or insufficient use – we should, when necessary, apply existing measures more forcefully,” Karis stated at the beginning of October.
7. 🇷🇸🇷🇺 Serbia makes arrests over attacks on religious sites in France and Germany; GRU link suspected
Eleven Serbian nationals were arrested at the end of September on suspicion of inciting religious and national hatred and intolerance. They are accused of placing pigs’ heads near mosques in Paris, vandalising Jewish sites in France and Germany, including throwing paint on Holocaust memorials and synagogues, and drawing skeletons near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
The Serbian authorities stated that the main organiser of the group has been acting under orders from a foreign intelligence service, without specifying which one. French authorities are investigating possible Russian involvement, linking the case with Russian intelligence GRU sabotage actions.
The arrests coincided with another case where two individuals were also detained in Serbia after a group of between 150-170 citizens of Romania and Moldova participated in training to physically resist police actions, which are believed to be connected to the crucial parliamentary elections in Moldova. See more on the Moldova developments.
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Thanks,
Andreja