Shemokmedi Archbishop Ioseb congratulates Ukrainian Church on receiving tomos on autocephaly
Shemokmedi Archbishop Ioseb congratulates Ukrainian Church on receiving tomos on autocephaly

The Shemokmedi  Archbishop Ioseb, congratulates Ukrainian Church on receiving tomos on autocephaly. Archbishop published the congratulation text on his Facebook page.

“I congratulate the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on receiving tomos and I believe that Ukraine deserves autocephalous church. This country struggled for independence and autocephaly during centuries. Their aspiration will strengthen the Christian Orthodox unity”,  – reads Archbishop Ioseb’s statement.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople handed over “tomos” of autocephaly to the head of the Ukrainian church, Metropolitan Epifaniy. The ceremony took place in St. George Church in Istanbul on January 6.

The Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church was held on December 27, 2018. After the session, the bishops said that Holy Synod abstained from making concrete decisions until the World Patriarch’s resolution be published.