RUSSIAN CHURCH REPLIES TO PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW THAT THEY ARE NOT OBLIGED TO SUBMIT TO HIM
Interfax-Religiia, 23 October 2018
The Russian Orthodox Church (RPTs) does not intend to comply with the decisions of Constantinople regarding Ukraine, as Patriarch Bartholomew expects from it, the Moscow patriarchate declared.
"The Russian church, like any other local Orthodox church, is not required to submit to the decisions of the patriarchate of Constantinople, inasmuch as the canons of ecumenical councils, about which Patriarch Bartholomew speaks, do not endow him with any kind of authority outside of his own patriarchate," Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, the secretary for inter-Orthodox relations of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, told Interfax on Tuesday.
This is the way he commented on the words spoken by Patriarch Bartholomew to the effect that his privileges are based on canons of the ecumenical councils and everyone in Orthodoxy is obliged to respect them, and that means that the RPTs "sooner or later will follow the decisions" of Constantinople regarding Ukraine.
Meanwhile the representative of the RPTs noted that the canons mentioned by Patriarch Bartholomew granted to the bishop of Constantinople the second place of honor after Rome in the list of the churches existing at that time, explaining the elevation by the fact that Constantinople became the place of residence of the caesar and the senate.
"Now, when the Byzantine empire has not existed for a long time and Istanbul is not even the capital of Turkey, the canonical basis has disappeared even for a symbolic preeminence of the patriarchate of Constantinople in the Orthodox world," the news agency's interlocutor emphasized.
On 11 October, the Synod in Istanbul abolished the legal force of its own order of 1686 regarding the transfer of the Kiev metropolia to Moscow, announced the creation of its own annex in Kiev, and rehabilitated the leaders of the self-proclaimed Orthodox churches in Ukraine. In response, the Synod of the patriarchate of Moscow announced a complete break in relations with the Constantinople church. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 October 2018)
RPTs REPRESENTATIVE ON WORDS OF PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: ORTHODOXY DOES NOT PERMIT PRIMACY TO ANY NATION
Interfax-Religiia, 23 October 2018
The Russian Orthodox Church sees a manifestation of nationalism in the statement of Patriarch Bartholomew delivered yesterday and it considers nationalism in church affairs to be impermissible.
As was reported, the head of the Constantinople church declared that his privileges are based on the canons of the ecumenical councils, and everyone in Orthodoxy is obligated to respect them, and that means that the RPTs "sooner or later will follow the decisions" of Constantinople regarding Ukraine.
At the same time Patriarch Bartholomew added: "Our Slavic brothers cannot tolerate the preeminence of the ecumenical patriarchate and our ethnic group in Orthodoxy."
The vice-chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, expressed dismay at such a statement of the issue.
"One can only regret that His Holiness represents the significance of the ethnic factor in the church in this way," he told Interfax on Tuesday.
The priest noted that the preeminence of the patriarch of Constantinople, who according to Byzantine tradition is called ecumenical, among other primates of local churches "was never placed in doubt by Orthodox Slavs ever since the bishop of Rome fell out of communion with the Orthodox world," primarily because of his striving for dominance over the ecumenical church and for a position above its councils.
Father Nikolai said: "It lasted this way so long as the primate of Constantinople did not presume that he is first without equals, primus sine paribus, which led in particular to the anticanonical actions connected with Ukraine."
Now, in the opinion of the representative of the Russian church, Patriarch Bartholomew has gone even further in terms of violation of the canons.
The "preeminence" in Orthodoxy of any "ethnic group" or nation is yet another new doctrine that is completely alien to the Orthodox faith, and absolutely unacceptable, I suggest, for all churches, and particularly for the multinational Russian church that unites believers of a multitude of nations, belonging to dozens of different ethnic groups," the representative of the synod's department emphasized.
He expressed dismay that such a statement could be reconciled with the decisions of the Constantinople Council of 1872, which condemned the so-called heresy of "ethno-phyletism." "Or is only Slavic nationalism sinful, while Greek nationalism is holy and laudable?" the priest asked.
On the whole, he called the latest statement by Patriarch Bartholomew "very sad" and declared that it attests "serious distortions of teaching about the church," which, in the opinion of the representative of the RPTs "actually is not tolerated not only by Slavs but also other Christians of the world." (tr. by PDS, posted 23 October 2018)
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