According to a number of sources,on 31 August 2018,His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with Ecumencial Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople for two and a half hours in a brotherly spirit at the Phanar,the Patriarchal enclave in Istanbul.Accompanied only by a translator and His Eminence Metropolitan Ilarion of Volokolamsk,Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations,he spoke privately with Patriarch Bartholomew and His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of France.
In the course of the meeting,Patriarch Kirill suggested holding a scientific conference to reveal the sources of the Ecumenical Patriarchate's decision to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.He also suggested a dialogue on the topic.
Patriarch Bartholomew stood firm:
Thank you,but the decision on autocephaly was the Ecumenical Patriarchate's to make and they are moving forward with it.
In the event,the small delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church left immediately after the talks,foregoing a dinner invitation.They made no statement.*
Metropolitan Emmanuel of France reportedly said that the decision was made in April.The same process is underway for other cases.The Synaxis of Hierarchs of the Ecumenical Throne meets from 1-3 September,but lacks the authority to implement the decision.Only the Holy and Sacred Synod can implement it,and their next meeting is in October.*
Patriarch Kirill got to greet several of the Ecumenical Patriarchate hierarchs who had arrived for the Synaxis,including His Eminence Metropolitan Evangelos of New Jersey and His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America.
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