Metropolitan Alexander (Gianniris) about Rada’s petition to Patriarch Bartholomew: politics should stay out of the Church (VIDEO)

Bishop Alexander (Gianniris), Metropolitan of Nigeria, who participated in last week’s Council of Crete, has said that on the Ukrainian Church status as autocephalous he fully supports the position of 14 Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches that Metropolitan Onufriy is the only canonical head of Orthodoxy in Ukraine, reports KATEHON.

In connection with the recent petition of the Verkhovna Rada MPs to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, Metropolitan said that the Primates "were informed about this, and, of course, the most common position is that – I'll express my own personal view and not the opinion of the Synod, as it was not discussed – that politics should stay out of the Church. But I believe that on the question of Ukraine Patriarch of Constantinople spoke out at the meeting of the Primates of Churches in Geneva, expressing the opinion of all the Primates, so I do not think that at the moment this issue is on the agenda," noted the Metropolitan.

Previously, the Ecumenical Patriarch during the Pre-Council Meeting of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches in Geneva in January 2016, on behalf of the Primates of all 14 Local Autocephalous Orthodox Churches said: "We all recognize Metropolitan Onufriy as the only canonical head of Orthodoxy in Ukraine".

Read also