A Dangerous Escalation: Russian Propaganda against the Ecumenical Patriarch

By fr Panagiotis Kapodistrias, Archpriest of the Ecumenical Throne

The latest coordinated and brazen attack by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) against Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew surpasses every previous limit of political vulgarity and ecclesiastical insolence. The SVR—a state agency that now appears to have assumed “ecclesiological duties” as well—accuses His All-Holiness of being a purported collaborator with British intelligence services and the orchestrator of plans aimed at dismantling Russian ecclesiastical influence in Ukraine, the Baltic states, and the Balkans.

This is not the first time Moscow has attempted to target the Ecumenical Patriarch through crude falsehoods, conspiracy theories, and defamatory rhetoric. Yet on this occasion, even the darkest chapters of ecclesiastical division have been exceeded. The direct involvement of state security services in attacks against the First-Throned Church of Constantinople reveals, with stark clarity, the panic and moral collapse of an ecclesiastical system that has been reduced to an appendage of an authoritarian regime.

Bartholomew, ever steadfast in his commitment to Orthodox unity, has never acted on the basis of political calculation. He remains the spiritual father of all, an indefatigable defender of canonical order, of the freedom of the local Churches, and of the ecumenical ministry of the Phanar—a ministry that neither yields to pressure nor submits to geopolitical interests.

In response to this Russian depravity, today (13 January 2026) came the restrained yet clear and decisive official reply of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In it, the Mother Church expresses her profound sorrow over this latest slanderous attack, which now emanates openly from the state structures of the Russian Federation.

Despite the relentless assaults since 2018—when canonical autocephaly was granted to the Church of Ukraine—the Phanar has chosen the silence of dignity rather than the path of confrontation. The same course is followed today. Armed solely with truth and unwavering fidelity to its spiritual mission, it remains entirely unmoved by fanciful scenarios, fabricated news, insults, and propagandistic falsehoods.

The calm yet immovable stance of Patriarch Bartholomew signifies not weakness, but strength and heroic endurance—an endurance rooted in Tradition, Faith, and the Church’s witness throughout the centuries. His All-Holiness stands precisely where Divine Providence has appointed him: as First among Equals, without worldly dependencies, without the backing of power, sustained solely by the Grace of God and by the witness of the Cross.

Let Moscow and its courtiers rage. Patriarch Bartholomew, with his irreproachable ethos, his spiritual radiance, his worldwide esteem, and his heart ever oriented toward unity and love, will continue to serve the inhabited world. For wherever there is Witness, there Truth is firmly established.