“Our Ecumenical Patriarchate stood by the Church of Saint Mark, the Church of Alexandria
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“The Church of Alexandria sincerely, wholeheartedly and with one mind supports the inter-Orthodox and interreligious initiatives of Your All-Holiness,
“in an entirely uncanonical manner intruded into the canonical jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and created a parallel jurisdiction
“Through these remarks, Metropolitan Epifaniy also aligned his criticism with the position of the Patriarchate of Alexandria regarding the activities of the Russian Church in Africa, describing its representatives there as “Russian ecclesiastical usurpers.”
“The Ecumenical Patriarchate has never been a spectator of the course of human affairs
“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.
“Today, from Alexandria, the city of Alexander the Great and Saint Mark, we raise our prayers to the Panagia, the Mother of us all, We ask her to wipe away the tears of children, comfort mothers who are suffering, protect the innocent, and enlighten the leaders of the world so that peace may prevail. The Panagia knows no borders or distinctions; her maternal embrace has room for every person and every nation.
“Egypt became a refuge for Christ and the Panagia and remains a blessed land to this day
“the Ecumenical Patriarch accused Local Churches of ingratitude and also made a thinly veiled reference to the Serbian primate, who has still not made a “peace visit” to the Phanar.