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ISTANBUL (AP) \u2014 The top figure in Eastern Orthodox Christianity on Sunday declared that \u201cUkraine\u2019s sovereignty is not up for debate, nor can it be negotiated under the guise of diplomacy,\u201d as he celebrated Mass in Istanbul on the eve of the third anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who is considered the \u201cfirst among equals\u201d in Eastern Orthodoxy, said any future peace agreement \u201cmust include Ukraine as an equal participant.\u201d He praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his \u201ctireless effort\u201d to defend the country\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n
Most Ukrainians identify as Orthodox Christians, though the country remains split between an independent church based in Kyiv and another aligned with Moscow.<\/p>\n
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Bartholomew, who has consistently shown support for Ukraine since the war began, recognized the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as independent from Moscow in 2019 \u2014 a move that prompted Russian Patriarch Kirill and the Russian Orthodox Church to sever contact.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo force can extinguish the spirit of the people who refuse to be broken,\u201d Bartholomew said in his sermon at a Mass attended by relatives and friends of Ukrainian soldiers who are missing or believed to be held in Russian captivity. \u201cNo nation has the right to force its will upon another, and no power can erase a people\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n
The service drew tears from the participating Ukrainians. Among them was Tetiana Tantsiura, whose husband Oleg Naradko, a soldier in Ukraine\u2019s 115th Mechanized Brigade, went missing in action in July 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to talk about,\u201d Tantsiura told the Associated Press, \u201cHe disappeared July 2022. Until this time, the current year, I don\u2019t know anything. I only hope that he is alive, and he will return in Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Russian President Vladimir Putin has tried to justify the invasion of Ukraine in part as a defense of the Moscow-oriented Orthodox Church, leaders of both Ukrainian Orthodox factions \u2014 and the country\u2019s significant Catholic minority \u2014 have strongly condemned the war.<\/p>\n
Ukraine\u2019s consul general to Istanbul, Nedilskyi Roman, thanked the patriarch for his \u201cpersonal and spiritual\u201d support to Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour prayers have given us the strength to stand and fight the insidious enemy for 3 years. Thank you for your personal and spiritual support to millions of Ukrainians around the world who were forced to leave their homes to save the lives of their children,” Roman said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n