Posted on 10/23/2018 6:25:24 PM PDT by marshmallow
Moscow, October 23, Interfax - The Russian Orthodox Church is not going to obey the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople's decisions on Ukraine, contrary to what Patriarch Bartholomew expects, a spokesperson for the Moscow Patriarchate said.
"The Russian Church, like any other local Orthodox Church, is not obliged to obey the Patriarch of Constantinople's decisions, as the canons of the Ecumenical Councils, to which Patriarch Bartholomew has referred, do not invest him with any powers beyond his patriarchate," Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations secretary, told Interfax on Tuesday.
The priest was commenting on Patriarch Bartholomew's remark on Monday that his privileges are based on Ecumenical Council canons, that everyone in the Orthodox world has to respect them, and that the Russian Orthodox Church will therefore follow Constantinople's decisions on Ukraine sooner or later.
The priest argued that the canons mentioned by Patriarch Bartholomew ranked the bishop of Constantinople second, following the bishop of Rome, on a list of Churches existing when the canons were drawn up, on the grounds that Constantinople was the seat of the czar and the Senate.
"Given that the Byzantine Empire long ago ceased to exist and that Istanbul is not even the capital of Turkey now, there are no more canonical foundations even for the symbolic primacy of the Constantinople Patriarchate in the Orthodox world," he said.
On October 11, the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate abrogated the ordinance of 1686 that put the Kiev Metropolitanate under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate, announced the opening of a mission in Kiev, and rehabilitated the leaders of the unrecognized Ukrainian Orthodox churches. In response, the Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate fully severed its relations with the Constantinople Patriarchate.
Even in ‘Istanbul’ -> Constantinople is reaffirming its original place in Christendom. Just as Kiev is. The world of Orthodoxy may be in a flux, but eventually all will follow suit.
Moscow needs new leadership: spiritual and political.
Rubbish. I am not surprised a Catholic who has been trolling Orthodox threads would be promoting this clap trap. But FTR Constantinople has no canonical authority outside the Phanar and a handful of dioceses in the diaspora. Their recent behavior has left them dangerously isolated within the Orthodox Church. Not one canonical church has recognized their actions in Ukraine and many have condemned their reckless behavior. Bart is endangering the peace and unity of the Orthodox Church.
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