UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF THE USA
OFFICE OF THE METROPOLITAN
PRESS RELEASE

South Bound Brook, NJ – Metropolitan Constantine, the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, issued the following statement on behalf of the clergy and laity of the UOC of the USA to the Holy Synod, Hierarchs, clergy, monastics and faithful of Athens and all Greece, on the falling asleep of the late Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, the ever-memorable Christodoulos.

“The falling asleep in Christ of the Venerable Primate of the Church of Greece, His Eminence Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens is a source of grief for world Orthodoxy Christianity.

In season and out of season, His Eminence of blessed memory proclaimed the Gospel of life and stood as a stalwart witness to what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ said and did. Many are those who found Christ through the gentle and uncompromising ministry of the beloved servant of God, Christodoulos, especially the youth of Orthodox Greece, who were the focus of his ministry and the source of his paternal joy.

As Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States of America, I, and my brother in the Episcopacy, Archbishop Antony, wish to assure you of our fervent prayers and those of our clergy and faithful, for the repose of the soul of His Eminence and for the clergy and laity of the Church of Greece, who seek at this time, that consolation, which only Christ can bestow.

May our Lord remember his services and may his memory remain with us from generation to generation."

+Constantine, Metropolitan
+Antony, Archbishop

Note: The Church of Greece, which ranks seventh in the order of commemoration among the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches, was established by the missionary activities of the Holy Apostle Paul. In the 19th century, following the liberation of the Greek lands and the establishment of an indigenous State, the Church of Greece was granted the status of Autocephalous by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Church of Greece is the official State Church of the Hellenic Republic.