Delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for the Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul

30 Jun 2023

As part of the traditional exchange of delegations for the respective feasts of the Patron Saints - the celebration of the Apostles Peter and Paul on 29 June in Rome and the celebration of St Andrew the Apostle on 30 November in Istanbul - a delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate visited Rome from 28 - 30 June 2022.

The delegation was led by Metropolitan of Pisidia Job, Co-president of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. The Metropolitan was accompanied by Bishop Athenagoras of Nazianzus and Patriarchal Deacon Kallinikos Chasapis.

On Wednesday 29 June, the Delegation of the Patriarchate attended the solemn Eucharistic Celebration presided over by the Holy Father and took part in conversations with the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.

On Thursday, 30 June, the Delegation was received in audience by Pope Francis. After Metropolitan Job read the message of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Holy Father, referring in his address to the recent session of the Catholic-Orthodox international dialogue held in Alexandria, affirmed that: “Today, mindful of the lessons of history, we are called to seek together a modality of exercising the primacy that, within the context of synodality, is at the service of the Church’s communion on the universal level”, indicating that “When, with the help of God, we shall be fully united in faith and love, the form in which the Bishop of Rome will exercise his service of communion in the Church at the universal level will have to be the result of an inseparable relationship between primacy and synodality”.