CONSTANTINOPLE: UPTsMP DOES NOT HAVE RIGHT TO DEMAND THAT EXARCHS LEAVE UKRAINE
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UPTsMP) does not have the right to demand that the exarchs of the Constantinople patriarchate leave Ukraine.
This was said in an exclusive commentary for Ukrinform by doctor of theology and hierarch of the Constantinople patriarchate Archbishop of Telmessos Job, commenting on a decision of the synod of the UPTsMP in which the appointment of the exarchs of the Constantinople patriarchate in Kiev was called "crude intervention" in the internal affairs of the church and which contains a demand that they leave Ukraine.
"By what right does the UPTsMP condemn the ecumenical patriarchate, if in inter-church relations the UPTsMP is not an independent entity in conducting a dialogue and it is not a subject and does not conduct correspondence in which the RPTs participates exclusively?" Vladyka Job declared.
He also added that ten years ago it was not exarchs by the ecumenical patriarch himself who came to Kiev, without an invitation from the UPTsMP, "and still the church under the leadership of Metropolitan Vladimir chose not the path of confrontation but the path of dialogue and mutual understanding."
As RISU has reported, on 7 September the ecumenical patriarchate appointed two exarchs in Kiev for preparation of the process of granting autocephaly.
The Russian Orthodox Church (RPTs) called this appointment "intrusion into its canonical territory" and threatened to sever eucharistic fellowship.
On 14 September, the synod of the RPTs made a decision to cease participation in structures under the leadership of the Constantinople patriarchate and commemoration of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew during the divine liturgy.
On the same day, the primate of the UPTsMP, Onufrey, reporting to participants in the RPTs synod, declared that clergymen of his church will not meet with the exarchs of the ecumenical patriarch in Ukraine because they had come here without their blessing.
On 17 September, the exarchs of the ecumenical patriarchate, at a meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kiev, declared that the process of granting autocephaly to the UPTs is a "settled issue."
On 26 September the synod of the UPTsMP called the appointment of the exarchs of the ecumenical patriarchate "a crude intervention in the internal affairs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and a violation of its canonical territory." (tr. by PDS, posted 26 September 2018)
Editorial disclaimer: RRN does
not intend to certify the accuracy of information
presented in articles. RRN simply intends to certify the
accuracy of the English translation of the contents of the
articles as they appeared in news media of countries of
the former USSR.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the
publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit
this Web page. If material is transmitted electronically, please
include reference to the URL,
http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.