Posted on 10/12/2018 12:07:23 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
Ukraine has secured approval from the global head of Orthodox Christianity to create its own Church independent of Russia’s patriarchate.
Russian Patriarch Kirill said last month that his church would break ties with the Istanbul-based patriarchate. Such a separation would “catastrophically undermine the unity of global Orthodoxy..."
The threat was echoed by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. “We the Russian Church will not recognise this autocephaly, of course, and we will have no other choice but to sever ties with Constantinople."
The question of whether the new Ukrainian Church will take over the Moscow Patriarchate’s property in the country is another contentious issue.
Addressing the possibility of violence, (Patriarch) Filaret said: “Moscow wants a conflict, and we - Ukrainians - don’t want it.”
Orthodox Christianity was formally adopted in the Slavic region in 988 by Vladimir the Great, whose empire encompassed much of modern-day Ukraine and western Russia. Since the 17th century, the churches of both countries, along with Belarus, have been linked together under a centralised Moscow-based leadership.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, “most Orthodox believers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus remained united under one spiritual leader, the Patriarch of Moscow."
However, there were calls for the Ukrainian Church to be given independence...
Tensions between Ukraine and Russia have reached critical levels following Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea...
Ukraine has accused the Russian Orthodox Church of “allowing itself to be used as a tool of the Kremlin to justify Russian expansionism and support of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine."
“For Russia, the crisis is geopolitical as well as spiritual," Chapnin said.
“The stakes are so high that in order to protest Ukraine’s religious autonomy, Russia may respond harshly enough to trigger a deep schism in the Christian world."
(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.co.uk ...
Kiev and Moscow have competing historical narratives going back centuries.
It only matters if they accept Jesus as savior...all the symbols, incense, robes and stuff isn’t “what Christianity is”...
One of the unintended consequences of Obama/Rice/Nuland meddling?
George Bush didn’t intend to set-off a genocide of Christians in Iraq and Syria. I would also like to believe it wasn’t imagined as a possible consequence either - but in the end, that’s what happened.
There are no doctrinal issues here as far as I can see, only the question of ecclesiastical authority.
...And I thought that the RCC had its “issues”. Good grief.
Safe to say, this is shaping up to be a “year of shame” for a number of Christian churches.
Looks more like a Catholic split than Christianity.
That’s nothing. Wait until the coming split of the Traditional and Hip New Gay-Friendly Catholic Churches.
No, I'm NOT going to cite how many Protestants denominations are listed in the Protestant-edited World Christian Encyclopedia...
May I mention, though, that my own abortion-clinic-vigiling Presbyterian galpal Shirley calls her denomination the "split P's."
I assumed that was the topic when I saw the headline.
O heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of Truth
who are in all places and fillest all things:
Treasury of good things and Giver of life:
Come and dwell in us and cleanse us from every stain,
and save our souls, O good One.
I don’t think either group practices Biblical Christianity, so the schism isn’t much to talk about.
“I don’t think either group practices Biblical Christianity, so the schism isn’t much to talk about.”
Oh, goody, the Supreme Leader of all things Christian, His Most Holy Servant Doulos1 has spoken!
Thanks for the ping. I don’t laugh as much as I should. ;-)
Laughter is, they say, the best medicine.
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