RPTs BELIEVES THAT BARTHOLOMEW'S ACTIONS ARE FACTOR IN INSTABILITY IN BLACK SEA REGION AND UNDERMINE MINSK AGREEMENTS
Interfax-Religiia, 30 November 2018
The activity of Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew is acquiring an ever more political character and makes him a factor in the destabilizing of international relations in the Black Sea region, the Moscow patriarchate thinks.
"In Russian society, among believing people there exists a categorical rejection of the actions of the Phanar. They are viewed as infringement on the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church (RPTs)," a source in the Moscow patriarchate explained to Interfax on Friday.
The news agency's source noted that the patriarch of Constantinople "is not only the head of the small Orthodox church but also a citizen of Turkey, whose actions cannot but exert an influence on Russian-Turkish relations."
On the other hand, the RPTs representative continued, Patriarch Bartholomew "willingly participates in the process of the escalation of the relations of Russia and Ukraine, undermining the position of the only institution that has peacemaking potential in Russian-Ukrainian relations," namely the Ukrainian church headed by Metropolitan Onufrey.
"The Russian and Ukrainian public, and certainly also healthy-minded people in the political elite of both countries, will in short order face the question of whether their Turkish partners will themselves give an account of the kind of significance the activity of this citizen has for increasing the tension in the Black Sea region," the source added.
Moreover, he emphasized, "without the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the reintegration of the Donbass in impossible, since it is Metropolitan Onufrey who enjoys respect on both sides of the front, and the church can act as a conveyor of the reconciliation process, as has often been the case in European history."
"In this way, the Turkish citizen Patriarch Bartholomew, with the silent consent of the state of which he is a citizen, is undermining the Minsk process and the stability of the Black Sea region," the source in the Russian church concluded. (tr. by PDS, posted 30 November 2018)
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