Lithuania Signs Pact With Istanbul's Orthodox Church in Bid to Abandon Moscow Patriarchate

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte announced Tuesday that she had signed a cooperation deal with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, in a bid to create a parallel Eastern Orthodox Church in her Catholic-majority country that could rival that of the Moscow Patriarchate.

"Prime Minister Simonyte and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew signed an agreement between the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which aims to further strengthen and develop cooperation in the areas of mutual interest," the statement read.

The agreement was inked during the first ever visit of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the Baltic state. Prime Minister Simonyte told reporters at their joint press conference that the pact would serve as a foundation for a new sect in Lithuania associated with the Constantinople Patriarchate.

Simonyte spoke in favor of handing over control of the Lithuanian eparchy to the Constantinople Patriarchate in Istanbul, Turkiye, after the Moscow Patriarchate expelled four local priests over their attempts to split the Lithuanian Orthodox Church. The Moscow Patriarchate’s top cleric in Lithuania said a vast majority of local priests and worshippers were against the split.