“Just as Paul was called to become an apostle by the Head of the Church Himself, so too we received the Tomos and the proclamation of our dignity as an autocephalous Local Church from the first among the Primates of the Orthodox Church – from the Ecumenical Patriarch, who alone is vested by the conciliar canons with such a right
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“Indeed, it was not from Moscow that we received our autocephaly. It was not Moscow that granted us the Tomos, nor did recognition of our Church’s authenticity depend upon Moscow—just as the authenticity of Paul’s apostleship did not depend upon the opinions of his opponents,” Metropolitan Epifaniy stated. “Just as Paul was called to become an apostle by the Head of the Church Himself, so we received the Tomos and the proclamation of our status as an autocephalous Local Church from the first among the Primates of the Orthodox Church—the Ecumenical Patriarch, who alone, according to the conciliar canons, possesses this authority.
“According to Metropolitan Epifaniy, the Tomos granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate provides the canonical foundation for the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, irrespective of whether Moscow accepts it.
““Even if, somewhere far away, some do not regard us as a Local Church—just as some did not regard Paul as an apostle—for Ukraine we are the Local Church,” he said. “We recognise the unique and particular responsibility for Ukraine that follows from this. Therefore, like the Apostle Paul, we shall strive to do what is most beneficial for the Orthodox community of Ukraine. We shall continue firmly to expose the false teaching of the ‘Russian World,’ and we believe that, through our common efforts and with God’s help, we shall succeed.”
“Anastasios had repeatedly identified the gatherings of the Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches as one of the most important achievements of Patriarch Bartholomew’s tenure.
“the primatial feat of His Beatitude Onuphrius, his courageous stand for the purity of Orthodoxy, and his unwavering faithfulness to the Truth of Christ, which, in the words of the hierarch, serve as a lofty example for the entire Orthodox world
“Constantinople “diminished itself and itself granted them ecclesiastical independence, known as autocephaly – it weakened itself in order to serve each Orthodox people.”
“the order according to which every newly elected Orthodox primate, upon taking the helm of his Church, begins visiting the other Orthodox Churches, naturally starting with the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
“Let somewhere far away, for some, we are not a Local Church just as Paul, for some, was not an apostle as he says, for Ukraine we are the Local Church