In Vilnius – the first meeting of Orthodox clergy and laity of Constantinople | Culture

The event will take place in the Church of the Holy Trinity (Trinapolis). All the clergy of the Exarchate and one lay delegate elected by each parish will take part here. All pre-registered believers and guests will be able to participate as listeners.

The assembly of the recently established exarchate will be convened once a year, its participants elect the council, the auditor, approve the annual activity and financial reports, and foresee the main directions of the religious community’s activities for the coming year.

The plan to build the first prayer house of the Constantinople Patriarchate in Vilnius will also be discussed during the assembly on Saturday.

The assembly will start with a service, followed by a conference, concert and working meetings.

The Exarchate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople was officially established in Lithuania in February this year. This made it possible to receive almost 80,000 from the state a little later in the same month. EUR support.

The community itself began to be created last March after the visit of Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople to Lithuania.

The emergence of a new Orthodox community began to be sought after a conflict arose between several clergymen and the Orthodox Archdiocese of Lithuania. The latter said that they had committed canonical crimes and were therefore removed from the priesthood.

However, Constantinople stated that this was not due to violations of church rules, but due to the position on the issue of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and therefore returned them to the caste.