The decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to recognize an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church is a political move that will only sow discord in the country, two metropolitan bishop from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate said on Saturday.
KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th October, 2018) The decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to recognize an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church is a political move that will only sow discord in the country, two metropolitan bishop from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate said on Saturday.
On Thursday, the Synod of the Constantinople Patriarchate announced that it would proceed to the granting independence to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which is currently split into three major churches the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) of Moscow Patriarchate, the non-canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kiev Patriarchate (UOC-KP), which was created after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the so-called Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.
"In this case, the Constantinople Patriarchate was used as a tool in a big political game that aims to sabotage peace in Ukraine," Horlivka and Sloviansk Metropolitan Mitrofan said in a statement, as quoted by the UOC outreach department.
He added that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko made it his goal to sever his country's "spiritual link" with Russia, and warned that the Ukrainian government would continue to interfere with religious rites of its people.
Metropolitan Luka, the head of Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate in the Zaporizhia province, accused the Patriarchate of Constantinople of undermining the canon, the code of church laws.
"This openly hostile act by the Constantinople Patriarchate's Synod is a threat to the religious unity and... undermines the canonical base of our relations created by the Holy Fathers," he said, as quoted by the UOC outreach department.
Metropolitan Luka added that the Eastern Orthodox Church in Istanbul had acted arrogantly in its decision to interfere in other churches' affairs. He added the Synod's ruling created more controversy than there was before its historical meeting.
The synod's decision has been welcomed by Poroshenko, who looks to establish a single independent church in the country.
The Russian Orthodox Church called the synod's decision the "legalization of schism," saying that it would have catastrophic consequences and would affect millions of Christians in Ukraine and other countries. The Moscow-affiliated Ukrainian Orthodox Church said that the synod's decision was a hostile act, interfering with the Ukrainian church's affairs, and threatened the Constantinople patriarch with anathema.
