Schinas meets Patriarch, invokes Christian values as ‘source of hope’
As the death toll mounts in the Ukraine war, European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas said that “as a Christian Orthodox, I cannot accept that Orthodox [people] are bombing Orthodox monasteries [and] monuments.”
Schinas, whose portfolio aims to promote the European way of life, made the comments after a meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios at the Phanar in Istanbul on Saturday.
He also urged Europeans to turn to “the Christian values of unity, solidarity and peaceful coexistence,” describing them as a source of “support and hope for the future.”
During his visit to the patriarchate, the seat of the spiritual leader of some 300 million Orthodox Christians, Schinas briefed Vartholomaios on the EU decision to grant temporary protection to people fleeing Ukraine.
He also said that Vartholomaios could be part of a peaceful end to the dispute.
