The Ecumenical Patriarchate has firmly dismissed as "fake news" a sharp personal attack directed at Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew by Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).
In a press release issued on Tuesday, January 13, 2026, the Patriarchate stated that it has consistently refrained from responding to numerous similar assaults—whether from ecclesiastical or political sources in Russia—since granting autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in 2018. It emphasized that it maintains the same approach now.
The statement continued: "The imaginative scenarios, fake news, insults, and fabricated information from all kinds of propagandists do not discourage the Ecumenical Patriarchate from continuing its ministry and ecumenical mission."
The SVR's attack, released on Monday, January 12, 2026, labeled Patriarch Bartholomew the "Constantinople Antichrist" and accused him of deliberately creating division within the Russian Orthodox sphere, allegedly with backing from British intelligence services. It further claimed that he intends to grant autocephaly to the unrecognized Montenegrin Orthodox Church as a means to weaken the Serbian Orthodox Church, while extending similar efforts to other regions like the Baltics to supplant Russian Orthodox structures with ones under Constantinople's influence.
This episode highlights the ongoing tensions between the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul and Russian ecclesiastical and state authorities, rooted in disputes over church jurisdiction, particularly following the 2018 Ukraine autocephaly decision. The Patriarchate's response underscores its commitment to its role despite persistent criticism.
Moscow Accuses Patriarch Bartholomew of Undermining Orthodoxy
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