Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew accepted in Constantinople on Saturday His Eminence Metropolitan and Archpriest Daniel Zelinsky of the UOC of the USA.
That’s according to Zelnisky’s posting on Facebook.
During the meeting, Zelinsky presented the Patriarch with a painting by an artist from his hometown of Buchach in Ukraine: “The flame that the Lord lit – no darkness can extinguish.”
“When outside the darkness devours the city in its eternal abyss and it seems that all hopes have already died out, a bright star appears in the sky, which informs everyone that someone has come into the world who can light an unquenchable flame in the heart of each of us. And then our task is to preserve this holy spark and pass it on to everyone who needs it…. A little girl carries a symbol of love, kindness and faith in her hands through a cold, dark city, but she is not afraid at all, because she knows that in her hands is an eternal flame that no evil can extinguish,” Archpriest Daniel Zelinsky wrote.
He added that he had bought this icon at an auction – 100% of the proceeds from the sale were given to Buchach volunteers for the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
“Now she has found a home in the heart of world Orthodoxy – under the care of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew!” Zelinsky wrote.
