Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus Metropolitan Paul, the leader of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, has said that he believed autocephaly was in fact foisted on Ukrainian Orthodox believers.
MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th January, 2019) Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus Metropolitan Paul, the leader of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, has said that he believed autocephaly was in fact foisted on Ukrainian Orthodox believers."This is a political gamble ... In fact, this is the only situation in the history of the Orthodox church when Orthodox Christians do not want autocephaly but are given it. It is foisted on them," Paul told Belarusian STB tv channel on Friday.
He qualified granting autocephaly to the newly established Ukrainian church as a "pan-Orthodoxy tragedy."
"Just look what in fact is happening. Schismatics and dissenters are united, while there are no Orthodox Christians. Only two people out of the entire membership of the episcopate have decided to move there [to the newly established church]. All the others a huge number of people, including 90 bishops, Orthodox believers, and Orthodox priests do not want it. They want the church to be united," Paul added.
The exarch specified that Belarus did not seek autocephaly.
"I should say it frankly: this is a dreadful tragedy for Ukraine, but if this happens in Belarus, this will mean the death of the Belarusian Orthodox Church. The Belarusian Orthodox Church will be doomed to elimination," Paul said.
He emphasized that both the head of the state and the government were doing everything possible to ensure peace in the country.
"This in an important question: who needs this? Those who want division, antagonism, and hatred. So let us hope this won't happen in Belarus," he said.
Earlier in the day, Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew signed the tomos granting autocephaly to the "new church" of Ukraine. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has slammed granting tomos of autocephaly to the new church as a non-canonical move that will bring to Ukraine "trouble, division, and sin."
