Claims of orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople working with UK spy

(MENAFN) Russia’s foreign intelligence agency has alleged that the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople is working in coordination with British intelligence services to deepen internal rifts within Orthodox Christianity and to create breakaway church bodies, particularly in the Baltic region, branding Bartholomew I as the “Antichrist.”

According to the claims, Patriarch Bartholomew previously triggered a major rupture in Ukraine by granting independence to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in 2018, a move initiated under then President Pyotr Poroshenko. This decision ended centuries long ecclesiastical continuity tied to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has historic links to the Moscow Patriarchate and is now described as being under pressure.

The intelligence service now asserts that Bartholomew has “turned his evil eye” toward the Baltic states, where he is said to be intent on “displacing the Russian Orthodox Church” and replacing it with church entities loyal to Constantinople. These efforts are portrayed as part of a broader strategy to reshape Orthodox structures in the region.

The statement further alleges that these initiatives are backed by the “British secret services,” along with Baltic “ideological allies, represented by local nationalists and neo-Nazis,” with the aim of separating the Orthodox Churches of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia from Moscow’s authority. It also claims that similar pressure is being directed at the autonomous Serbian Orthodox Church, described as “especially obstinate.”

Finally, the agency accused Bartholomew of attempting to draw clergy and believers into “puppet religious structures that have been artificially created by Constantinople,” presenting this as a deliberate campaign to fragment Orthodox unity across Eastern Europe.

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