The Russian Federation is keeping its eye on the Patriarch of Jerusalem, holding monthly meetings with him to slow down the process of recognition of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine by the Jerusalem Church.
On July 22, 2021, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Israel Anatoly Viktorov met with His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilus III of the Holy City of Jerusalem and All Palestine. The meeting was held at the Patriarchal Residence in Jerusalem.
“The parties discussed issues of church-diplomatic nature of mutual interest,” says the official statement published on the website of the ROC’s Department of External Church Relations.
The meeting was attended by the head of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem and a member of the IOPS Council, ROC Archimandrite Alexander (Yelisov), as well as treasurer of the Russian Spiritual Mission, ROC Hieromonk Afanasiy (Bukin).
So, in addition to the Russian ambassador, the meeting was also attended by an FSB envoy, because IOPS, the so-called Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society, based in Jerusalem, is headed by former FSB chief Sergei Stepashin.
In mid-June 2021, Russian Ambassador Viktorov and FSB envoys had already met with the Patriarch of Jerusalem. After that, Russian experts spoke again for “Amman 2.0”
Earlier, FSB envoys took part in the celebration of the name day of Patriarch Theophilus III of Jerusalem.
It should be reminded that the Spiritual Front of Ukraine earlier reported about the ROC helping the Jerusalem Patriarchate to build a church. In addition, Russia is using the Patriarch of Jerusalem as a tool to oppose jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch. To this end, Theophilus in February 2021 called for another non-canonical Amman meeting, although last year’s “Amman” failed – something even Russian experts acknowledged.
