ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th December, 2018) Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople invited the elected head of Ukraine's "new church" to visit Istanbul to receive tomos of autocephaly on the feast day of the Epiphany Day on January 6, the patriarchate's press service told Sputnik on Saturday.
"The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew invited the Most Blessed Epiphany [Dumenko] to serve the great Epiphany holiday and to give him the tomos of the new sister autocephalous church," a spokesman said.
The Eastern Orthodox Church widely celebrates the feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Epiphany) on January 6.
Earlier in the day, a "unification council" was held in Kiev, at which the "metropolitan" of the non-canonical church structure, Epiphany Dumenko, was elected head of the "new church." According to Ukrainian media, only two bishops of the canonical UOC-MP participated in the council. The UOC-MP refused to participate in this event.
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) said the canonical meaning of the "council" in Kiev was insignificant, and the possibility of recognizing Epiphany in the Orthodox world was a task "hardly possible to fulfill."
