On September 12, the first day of the visit to Riga by the spiritual leader of the Orthodox world, Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew I, proved extremely busy. The energy of the 85-year-old primate, who has led the Orthodox Church ranked first in honor for 34 years, was one of the day’s notable features.
From the airport, the patriarch and the clergy accompanying him went to Riga Castle, the residence of Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics. There, he was received with protocol arrangements more typical of a visiting head of state. The only thing missing was an anthem, since the Patriarch of Constantinople, a Turkish citizen, has no anthem of his own.
The talks covered the religious situation in Latvia, the development of ecumenical ties, and events in Ukraine and the Middle East. Rinkevics accused Russia of war crimes and of stubbornly refusing negotiations, while also acknowledging the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s pro-Ukrainian position.
Bartholomew then visited the office of Prime Minister Evika Silina. She thanked the Istanbul-based patriarch for his contribution to strengthening peace, his “unchanging support for Ukraine and the importance of an independent church.”
The official meetings concluded with a visit to the Latvian Saeima, where the patriarch spoke with Speaker Daiga Mierina. The substance of that conversation largely repeated the earlier meetings: the focus was mainly on Ukraine and, as the article puts it, the pathological stubbornness of the Russian leadership.
It was in parliament that the Ecumenical Patriarch finally allowed himself more emotional remarks about the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church. Back in 2018, the ROC broke canonical communion with Constantinople over Ukraine, when the Ecumenical Patriarchate was preparing to grant a Tomos of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which the ROC describes as “schismatic” and “nationalist.”