RPTsMP HEAD MEETS WITH DELEGATION OF CONSTANTINOPLE PATRIARCHATE FOR DISCUSSION OF QUESTIONS "CONNECTED WITH PROBLEMS OF PRESERVING INTER-ORTHODOX UNITY": THAT IS, UKRAINIAN AUTOCEPHALY
Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (RPTsMP) discussed on 9 July the topic of "preserving inter-Orthodox unity" with representatives of the Constantinople patriarchate, the official website of the RPTsMP reports.
As the official communication states, Patriarch Kirill met in his working residence on Chisty Lane of Moscow with members of a delegation of the Constantinople patriarchate: metropolitans of Gaul Immanuel and Smyrna Bartholomew, who are authorized by Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew to discuss with the leadership of local Orthodox churches the question of Ukrainian autocephaly.
"In the course of the conversation, questions connected with the problem of maintaining inter-Orthodox unity were discussed, the official communication of the Moscow patriarchate says. Details of the conversation were not reported.
Participants in the meeting from the side of the RPTsMP also included the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations (OVTsS) Metropolitan Ilarion and the vice-chairman of the OVTsS, Archpriest Nikolai Balashov.
The official representatives of the RPTsMP, specifically the head of OVTsS Metropolitan Ilarion, who is considered the "right-hand" of Patriarch Kirill, have frequently declared that in the event of a grant by Constantinople of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, the RPTsMP will not hesitate in the face of "an ecumenical schism equal to the schism of 1054," that divided the Christian Church into Catholic and Orthodox churches, an observer noted for Portal-Credo.ru.
Judging by the official communication of the RPTsMP, which spoke of nothing other than the question of "inter-Orthodox unity," the issue is the threat on the part of the RPTsMP to translate promises into reality. The brevity of the official communication may be evidence that Moscow and Constantinople have not come to agreement on the "Ukrainian question." (tr. by PDS, posted 9 July 2018)
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