On the initiative of Deputy Foreign Minister Kostas Tsiaras, a meeting was held today at the Foreign Ministry between delegations from the Patriarchates of Antioch and Jerusalem. The main subject of the consultations, which were also participated in by a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, was the matter of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in Qatar.
Following the talks, which took place in a spirit of mutual trust and understanding, the representatives of the Patriarchates of Antioch and Jerusalem reaffirmed that each Church respects the other’s jurisdictional boundaries, and they agreed to convey specific proposals to their Churches’ Holy Synods, which serve the common goal of the unity of Orthodoxy.
Concluding the meeting, Mr. Tsiaras praised the mediating role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, expressing his gratitude for the agreement and the constructive climate in which the talks were carried out.
June 21, 2013