Exarch of Constantinople confirms that Orthodox Church of Ukraine can receive patriarchate

Exarch of Constantinople, Archbishop Daniel of Pamphilon said this in an interview with BBC News Ukraine.

"It will be a change in the Tomos and proclamation of the patriarchate. Constantinople has never concealed that it is absolutely possible," Archbishop Daniel said when asked about a possibility of introducing amendments and added: "It will be a new document proclaiming the patriarchate."

In this case, the valid document written in calligraphy is placed in the archives, and a new one is provided instead. "We have our own copy, and the church has its own. The copies must be identical in order to avoid the situation with the document giving the Russian Orthodox Church a right to autocephaly," the exarch added.

Daniel noted that he had not seen the Moscow’s document and was not fluent in the Greek language. “But, as far as I know, these documents have different meaning. The signatures on the document, which the Russian Orthodox Church has, differ from those on the document, which is stored here in Istanbul,” he added.

As reported, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew signed the Tomos of Autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine on January 5.