Moscow claims Bartholomew I "lost legitimacy" and want a new meeting on the Ukrainian issue.

15.03.2021, 13:50

The Russian Orthodox Church believes that" the previous mechanism for organizing meetings of Heads of Orthodox Churches, as they were convened by the Patriarch of Constantinople, no longer works "because Bartholomew, in their opinion, "has lost legitimacy." This was stated by the head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk.

This is reported by "Religiyna Pravda" while citing "Rossiyskaya Gazeta".

"The Patriarch of Constantinople joined the schism, he concelebrated with schismatics and lost his legitimacy as the first among the equal Primates of local Orthodox churches in the family. Therefore, even if he calls such meetings, it is possible that some churches will go to them, but many will evade them under various pretexts. And this will be due to the fact that he violated the basic principle of coexistence of local Orthodox Churches – conciliarity," RIA Novosti quotes Metropolitan Hilarion as saying.

The Russian Orthodox Church hopes that in 2021 a meeting of the heads of local Orthodox Churches will be held in the "Amman format".

"Apparently, we will have to wait until the restrictions related to the pandemic are relaxed. But this meeting is necessary. Last year we were grateful to the patriarch of Jerusalem for such an initiative, and this year we will accept this initiative. I hope that such a meeting will take place," Metropolitan Hilarion said on the Rossiya 24 TV channel.

As reported, Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem sent a message to the Primates of all Autocephalous Orthodox Churches with a proposal to hold a new meeting on the Ukrainian issue.

Tags: #ROC #Bartholomew I #Ecumenical Patriarchate #Tomos for the Ukrainian Church #Hilarion (Alfeyev)