ROC to Sever Relations with Patriarchate of Jerusalem, if Filaret’s Adherents..Worship in Holy Land

The Russian Orthodox Church may suspend services in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher if the Patriarchate of Jerusalem supports Constantinople in its decision to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

This was stated by the secretary of the Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem, Abbot Nikon, said Ukrayinska Pravda citing RIA Novosti.

“If Jerusalem Patriarchate take the side of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and, consequently, Filaret’s adherents serve at the Holy Sepulcher and other churches in the Holy Land, then we have to stop concelebrating with them,” he said.

“In fact, the scandal will continue, and, most likely, I guess we will have to then stop communicating with the Patriarchate of Jerusalem because in that case they will be on the side of schismatics,” added the official.

Autocephaly basically means creating the sovereignty of a church. The Pope is the Sovereign head of the Roman Catholic Church for example. He doesn’t answer to anyone above him in the RCC hierarchy. The Russian Orthodox Church does not want the Ukrainian Church to splinter and become its own church with its own head who doesn’t answer to the Russian Orthodox Church.

At least that’s what I make of it. I could be off a bit, not my specialty, but I think there are 9 churches in the Eastern Orthodox group of churches. The Russian Orthodox Church is one of the 9 and I think there are 4 Greek Orthodox churches in the group but don’t hold me to that. It seems that the Ukranian church wants to become #10.

I visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Holy Saturday 4 years ago. It is administered by 3 or 4 different Christian denominations. Since they apparently cannot agree on much, it is the only church I have ever been it where there are no collection boxes or people soliciting donations.

The Russian Orthodox Church does not want the Ukrainian Church to splinter and become its own church with its own head who doesn’t answer to the Russian Orthodox Church.

There is already an autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church, whose head sits in the Assembly of the Russian Orthodox Church (not vice versa). Patriarch Bartholomew has now, in violation of church canons, elevated two separate schismatic sects, lead by deposed clerics, to be a new autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine. He himself acknowledged their illegitimate status but two years ago, but since then "something's changed." Whether these two sects will now manage to work together has yet to be seen.

Thank you for the clarification. As I said this topic is a bit outside my field of knowledge. But I knew the word autocephaly :-) so I thought I understood the gist of the story. Thank you I appreciate your filling us in on more of the backstory.

Do you think it has more to do with Russian-Ukrainian politics, or is it a power play maneuver to increase the number of Synods in the Eastern Orthodox Church? Do they vote on such matters or is it up to discretion of the Patriarch of Constantinople?

There are several elements converging here, and I don't have any inside intel :> , but my take on it is that, like the Great Schism of 1054, it's basically geopolitical machinations of empires outside the Church using it as a wedge and hammer. The US State Dept. / CIA / whoever have always seemed to miss the Cold War and has done everything they can to exacerbate tensions -- "outside influence" in Ukraine is not limited to Russia.

Patriarch Bartholomew, and Constantinople in general, has been under extreme pressure from Turkey for a long time, which has been turning up the heat: Turkey basically wants Christians gone. So it's natural for Constantinople to seek Western allies; alas, it appears that the protectors it's sought out right now are demanding their pound of flesh. The Patriarch has the honor of being "first among equals" among the Orthodox hierarchs, but doesn't actually have authority or powers not possessed by other local churches. HOWEVER, Constantinople has started to claim such authority over time, to the consternation of the other jurisdictions. With the unilateral appointment of deposed clerics to head a new autocephalous church on another jurisdiction's historical territory, the Patriarch has apparently declared himself "Pope of the East," with the authority to create and dissolve local jurisdictions around the world. With that we lurch squarely towards Great Schism territory, so it's a very big deal for the Orthodox world. Western powers playing Cold War games don't care about any of this, of course; they're just interested in who "gets" Ukraine so they can keep score.

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