PATRIARCH KIRILL SPEAKS ABOUT A GLOBAL ORDER FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
Primate says that Russian Orthodox Church serves as an island of freedom from stupification
Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill explains the actions of Constantinople in Ukraine as a global order for the destruction of the "island of liberty" that is the Russian Orthodox Church (RPTs).
"The stakes are very high and the order for the destruction of the unity of our church is an order that has global dimensions. This is not simply a struggle for jurisdiction; it is a struggle for the destruction of the only mighty Orthodox force in the world. When we say 150 million, this is really so," the patriarch said on Tuesday in Moscow at a meeting with participants in the festival "Faith and Word."
"There is no doubt that somebody had to deliver a blow to this island of liberty. Why do I call Orthodoxy an island of liberty? Because we are free from global stupification and the dominance of alien ideas over us," the primate added.
Thus, in his opinion, "the tragedy of Ukraine transcends the boundaries of the political field; it has a mystical dimension."
Patriarch Kirill also described the preparation for his private meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew, which was held in Istanbul on 31 August, and was the last attempt for a diplomatic resolution of the conflict with Constantinople over Ukraine. The head of the RPTs said that he suggested to the Constantinople side the holding of a meeting on neutral territory, for example, in the Swiss city of Chambesy. But it was in his Istanbul residence that Patriarch Bartholomew insisted on meeting, and Patriarch Kirill was advised in Moscow against this visit on the consideration that it would be humiliating for him.
"I understood that it was a desire (of Constantinople—IF) to stick to the place. But this was humiliating for those who pay attention to such games. I am ready to go on foot wherever they want in order to prevent such a development of events as we now have," Patriarch Kirill acknowledged. He said that already at the time, in that meeting, Patriarch Bartholomew's position on Ukraine was expressed "rather sharply and radically."
On 11 October the Synod in Istanbul annulled the legal force of its order of 1686 transferring the Kiev metropolia to Moscow, announced the creation of its annex in Kiev, and rehabilitated the leaders of the self-proclaimed Orthodox churches in Ukraine. In response, the Synod of the Moscow patriarchate announced the complete severance of relations with the Constantinople church. (tr. by PDS, posted 30 October 2018)
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