Major Events Highlight Ukraine and its New Orthodox Church

A swirl of important events this weekend are highlighting Ukraine and its new autocephalous Church.First, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew arrived in Thessaloniki, Greece on 18 October 2019.The next day at the ancient fifth century Church of the Panagia Acheiropoietos,he concelebrated the Patriarchal Divine Liturgy with His Beatitude Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens and All Greece,at which the name of His Beatitude Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kiyiv and All Ukraine was inscribed by Archbishop Ieronymos in the Dyptichs of the Church of Greece, the list of Primates of the autocephalous Orthodox Churches.
Metropolitan Epifaniy could not attend as he had to be in New York to receive a high honour for his courageous effort for religious freedom, the 2019 Athenagoras Human Rights Award,from the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,a group of lay leaders pledged to defend the Patriarchate and religious freedom worldwide.*
The Ukrainian World Congress sent a message expressing sincerest thanks to Archbishop Ieronymos for leading the Church of Greece to this momentous juncture, being the first Orthodox Church to recognise the Ukrainian autocephaly.As Patriarch Bartholomew stated later in the day at the blessing of the renovated Chapel of St.Eleftherios in the Heptakyrgion Castle:
The hope of freedom is never imprisoned.*
At the Divine Liturgy, Patriarch Bartholomew said:
We look forward to the visit of Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kiyiv.Our Ukrainian brothers will see that the Greeks, who taught them the
Christian faith,as well as to read and to write, will welcome them with open arms.We want them to feel real love.from our side.
The greatness of our history mainly depends on the future.The Greek Community is able to survive in this world under the condition that we respect our past.*
As for his part, Metropolitan Anthimos noted that:
Thessaloniki is the symbol of the Greek Community since ancient times.This place expresses all of its history by Hellenism.With great pain and effort the archeological service, with the support of the priests and my participation, brought this ancestral place the glory which is the pride of all Macedonia and beyond.Today will remain in history as a very promising one for our spiritual problems, our historical  issues, and our vision of a united and dedicated Greece.*