The following article, which is part of a report on all the Autocephalous Churches made by Archbishop John to the Second All-Diaspora Sobor of the Russian Church Abroad held in Yugoslavia in 1938, gives the historical background of the present state of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. It could well have been written today, apart from a few small points which have changed since then. We reproduce it here to bring more clarity into the current ecclesiastical crisis surrounding the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Ukraine.
