MP accuses Phanar member of an attempt to poison Patriarch Bartholomew
The statement of the Information Resistance Group on the attempted poisoning of Patriarch Bartholomew during the meeting with the ROC Primate turned out to be a fake.
"Officer of the FSO” (Russia’s Federal Protective Service) from the security guard of Patriarch Kirill, who had offered the Patriarch of Constantinople a glass of "poison", turned out a staff member of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, who was in charge of distributing water to the guests at the beginning of the meeting. This was written by Director of the International Institute of Athos Heritage Sergei Shumilo on his Facebook page.
"Some of our media and conspiracy experts today ventilate an outright fake that during yesterday's meeting between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Patriarch of Constantinople, there was allegedly made an attempt to poison Patriarch Bartholomew. The video of yesterday's meeting, during which a staff member of the Ecumenical Patriarchate was giving the water to the guests at the beginning of the meeting, is offered by the MP as a mere proof," says Sergei Shumilo.
According to him, he queried several representatives of the Patriarchate of Constantinople who unanimously confirmed that the video-recorded man in a gray suit, who was distributing the water, is an employee of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
"Constantinople is surprised by such outspokenly false publications and statements by some of our experts and the media. According to the ancient Greek tradition, at the beginning of any church meetings it is common to treat guests with water. At the Ecumenical Patriarchate, only a member of the Patriarchate can serve guests, which was the case yesterday during the meeting of the two patriarchs," he explained.
According to Sergei Shumilo, "it turns out that some of our media unfairly accused the Patriarchate's staff member of trying to poison Patriarch Bartholomew, which is slander and insult to the honor and dignity of an innocent person, who has worked faithfully at the Ecumenical Patriarchate for many years, has a family and children."
"It would be nice if those who have been fake-mongering about "poisoning" immediately deleted their publication and did not disgrace themselves or others with such overt unprofessionalism and speculation," he stressed.
On September 1, the Information Resistance Group published a story titled "The Phanar savors of ‘Novichok’": Patriarch Bartholomew ignored a suspicious "drink" from the RF FSO, which stated that the FSB officers were trying to poison the Patriarch of Constantinople.
According to the UOJ, previously the above parliamentarian and coordinator of the Information Resistance Group Dmitry Tymchuk published the information that the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus Kirill had refused point-blank to fly to the meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew. He also "predicted" on August 6, three weeks before the meeting of the patriarchs, that the Patriarch of Constantinople "should pay special attention to" gifts "from Moscow because Ukraine will receive the Tomos unless ‘Novichok’ stands in the way."
MP Tymchuk is known for his fake statements about the UOC and his incorrect statistical coverage on the conflict in the Donbass. He accused the Gorlovka eparchy of its cooperation with separatists and also spotted the "Russian world" in the lessons of Christian ethics. Tymchuk is one of the co-authors of the anti-church bill No. 4511, who openly acknowledged that the new law is directed solely against the UOC.
