The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) supported the position voiced by the Patriarchate of Constantinople that the creation of a new schism in Ukraine cannot heal the old schism, head of the ROC's Department for External Church Relations (DECR), Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, said Friday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st August, 2018) The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) supported the position voiced by the Patriarchate of Constantinople that the creation of a new schism in Ukraine cannot heal the old schism, head of the ROC's Department for External Church Relations (DECR), Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, said Friday.
Earlier in the day, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow met with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and the parties discussed "issues of mutual interest."
"I would like to draw attention to the statement made by Metropolitan Emmanuel [of France, participant of the negotiations from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople] in the Greek media that we - a reference to the Patriarchate of Constantinople - we will not heal the schism by creating another schism. I think that this is a very sober attitude," Metropolitan Hilarion said.
According to him, the Constantinople Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church each have their own positions on various issues.
"We never concealed this position, we published it, just as the Patriarchate of Constantinople published its position, and we could not say anything fundamentally new, but it is very important that this meeting provided an opportunity to exchange information and, as it is said, to coordinate positions, because very often one side gets its information, another one has other information," the metropolitan said.
The two patriarchs met amid the strained situation currently enveloping the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
Orthodox churches operating in Ukraine, aside from the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) a self-governing church within the Moscow Patriarchate also include those that are not recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, such as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC).
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is trying to achieve recognition of non-canonical institutions and to create a single local autocephalous church based on them. In April, Poroshenko said that Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was launching the procedures required to establish the Autocephalous Church in Ukraine.
In response to the appeal of the Ukrainian secular authorities, the Synod of the Constantinople Patriarchate said that it had decided to be in close contact with other sister Orthodox churches to obtain their information and enable coordination regarding the request.
