CONSTANTINOPLE SYNOD DOES NOT CONSIDER UKRAINIAN QUESTION ON FIRST DAY OF WORK—NEWS MEDIA
Interfax-Religiia, 9 October 2018
The topic of Ukrainian autocephaly was not discussed on Tuesday, the first day of the session of the Synod of the Constantinople patriarchate, BBC News of Ukraine reports, citing its own sources.
At the same time the publication's source did not confirm, but did not deny, reports about whether the granting of a tomos to Ukraine will be considered in principle on these days.
The current session of the Synod in Istanbul will go for three days, until 11 October.
Ukrainian authorities and representatives of the schism are seeking the creation of an autocephalous church, independent from the Moscow patriarchate. Patriarch Bartholomew has agreed to help them with this, sending to Ukraine two exarchs in September, whose goal is to prepare the ground for autocephaly. Meanwhile, the UPTs, the only canonical Orthodox church in Ukraine, has decisively rejected this initiative and demanded that the exarchs leave the country.
In its turn, the Synod of the Moscow patriarchate regarded the action of the Constantinople church as intrusion into its canonical territory and at its session on 14 September it declared cessation of prayer fellowship with Constantinople, which is similar to breaking diplomatic relations. Later Patriarch Kirill appealed to the heads of Orthodox churches of the world for an Orthodoxy-wide discussion of the "Ukrainian question." Support for this initiative has already been expressed by several Orthodox primates. (tr. by PDS, posted 9 October 2018)
RPTs HOPES FOR TRIUMPH OF COMMON SENSE IN CONSTANTINOPLE CHURCH
The Russian Orthodox Church (RPTs) is hoping for the "triumph of common sense" in the Constantinople church, declared the chairman of the synod's department of the Moscow patriarchate for relations of church and society and news media, Vladimir Legoida, commenting on the Synod of the patriarchate of Constantinople that began on Tuesday.
As expected, the Synod on 9-11 October will consider the topic of granting autocephaly to the church in Ukraine.
"We do not know what will happen there. We hope that finally we will see there the triumph of common sense and Christian conscience. We will see how events develop," Legoida said at a meeting with deputies of the State Duma, evaluating the session of the Synod that has begun.
Legoida said that the patriarchate of Moscow has done everything so that "out brothers" in Constantinople "will not take steps that will entail very severe consequences for millions of people and, of course, for world Orthodoxy. "We also today are leaving the door open and we hope that at some time the topic will begin to unfold in a different direction. We hope that we will be heard, because this affects millions of people," the head of the synodal department noted.
As Legoida recalled, in response to the action of the Constantinople patriarchate on preparation of autocephaly, the RPTs Synod, on its part, declared for a time the "suspension" of concelebrating with hierarchs of the Constantinople church, expressing thereby the hope that the situation still can "be directed into the correct channel."
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is trying to get recognition of uncanonical religious structures and the creation of a united local autocephalous church in Ukriane, although he promised not to interfere in affairs of the church. Earlier the patriarchate of Constantinople "within the context of preparation for granting autocephaly" appointed its own exarchs in Kiev. In addition, Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew declared that he intends to grant autocephaly to Ukraine. The UPTs called such actions intrusion onto the canonical territory of another local church and called Patriarch Bartholomew to cease his interference and the "exarchs" of the Constantinople patriarchate to leave Kiev.
In its turn, the Russian Orthodox Church has gone to a de facto "breaking of diplomatic relations" with the patriarchate of Constantinople. The Synod of the Russian church announced the termination of the commemoration of Patriarch Bartholomew during patriarchal worship services. Besides this, a decision was made to withdraw from structures in which representatives of the Constantinople patriarchate preside. Relations of the RPTs and Constantinople have been in such a crisis only once in all of its more than one thousand year history.
The Holy Synod of the RPTs, the Bishops' Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, and the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have ceased ministry with hierarchs of the patriarchate of Constantinople. At the same time, the RPTs notes that not one of the local churches supports the project for Ukrainian autocephaly. (tr. by PDS, posted 9 October 2018)
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