I find the cheering on the part of a handful of Russophobe Catholics for schism within the Orthodox Church to be in poor taste. Your claims regarding this being some kind of response to the various short comings, both real and imaginary, of the Moscow Patriarchate have already been addressed on related threads. But since you keep repeating this tripe, and at the risk of repeating myself, this has nothing to do with Putin and everything to do with the centuries old power struggle between Moscow and the EP. Bart is a liberal ecumenist in the mold of Pope Francis with a long history of waffling on issues like abortion, sodomy and female ordination. He has been repeatedly rebuked by the other local churches for his absurd (some have suggested heretical) claims to universal jurisdiction on behalf of his see. His phony council in Crete has been soundly rejected by the vast majority of the Orthodox world, for which he is still seething and blames Moscow. He has been roasted and openly condemned by the monks of Mt. Athos for his ecumenical affinity for various heretical entities. So I suppose I should not be surprised that he has become a favorite of some Catholics.
For the vast majority of the world’s Orthodox we have no interest in a patriarch with papal pretensions. If we want a liberal ecumenist pope we might just as well swim the Tiber and get the real thing. On which note I think we would be better off if Bart did just that. The sooner he kneels and kisses Francis’ ring the better off the Orthodox world will be.
God will judge the true motives of Patriarch Bartholomew.
The Russian Orthodox Church needs this moment of reckoning. God rebukes the church out of love for His people. For the true believers in the ROC, this move will ultimately prove to be a blessing. The faith needs to be released from the political shackles of a fallen earthly empire once and for all. (Imperial Russia/Soviet Union)
The ROC also needs to be cleansed in its complicitness with the tragic levels of blood shed in the name of said empire, and the continued blood spilled in the current war against Ukraine.
Naysaying abortions and throwing stones at gays and women does not negate the continued evil legacy the ROC leadership perpetuates in its unholy union with the Kremlin. The spread of Soviet values the world over has much to do with the crisis of faith faced by many even in the West today.
Russia was the source and wellspring of some of the most ruthless affronts against the laws of God and nature. The demon spirits from the mass graves and Gulag camps continue to cry out and wreak havoc on the conscience of the nation. The land has yet to be cleansed.
(I am merely echoing the sentiments of modern-day Orthodox voices here.)
True repentance and a season of genuine penance and healing is called for.
The Kremlin-serving antichrists continue to reveal their true colors as the real believers can start to rebuild their faith on the church’s true foundations. On Christ. And HIS kingdom.
The Ukrainian faithful can begin to do this work in peace.