On Tuesday, February 7, 2023, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew communicated by telephone with His Beatitude Patriarch of Antioch, John X, and verbally expressed to him the support of the Ecumenical Patriarchate amid the unspeakable tragedy caused by the strong earthquake in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria, in areas that are ecclesiastically under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Antioch.

His All-Holiness declared the willingness and readiness of the Ecumenical Throne to help in every possible way to support our Orthodox brothers and sisters who live in the affected areas, as well as every fellow human being who is being tested by the earthquake.