The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate has reaffirmed that the possession and use of weapons are incompatible with the status of an Orthodox clergyman, regardless of ecclesiastical rank.

The statement was issued following a meeting of the Synod chaired by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, according to Orthodox Times.

In response to a question raised during the session, the Holy Synod reaffirmed the Church’s canonical position, stressing that carrying or using weapons is fundamentally incompatible with the priestly vocation.

“The possession and use of weapons for any reason are absolutely incompatible with the status of an Orthodox clergyman of any rank, according to the sacred canonical tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church,” the official statement reads.

As LF previously reported, seminarians at a Russian Orthodox Church seminary in Yekaterinburg, Russia, attended a practical workshop on assembling and disassembling a Kalashnikov assault rifle.