Zelensky prays with Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is visiting Istanbul, prayed on Saturday morning alongside Patriarch Bartholomew, the Orthodox Patriarch, for the victims of the war with Russia, which entered its 500th day.

Zelensky, who met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday evening, headed to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the Golden Horn district of Istanbul on Saturday morning, according to journalists from Agence France-Presse.

After a short prayer for the victims of the conflict in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, the two men spoke away from the cameras.

Patriarch Bartholomew, who was elected in 1991, holds an honorary and historic position in the Orthodox Church but does not have the right to intervene in the religious affairs of other Orthodox churches.

The Patriarch, who recognized the independence of the Ukrainian Church in 2018, stated last year that he had become a "target for Moscow."

 

AFP