After the Tomos of the OCU was proclaimed, Moscow has not given up trying to undermine Orthodox unity in the world.
This includes a ban for Russian believers to receive communion in the churches of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, threats from the bishops of the Greek Church for accepting the OCU, complaints to the Supreme Administrative Court of Greece, and an attempt to convene a “Pan-Orthodox Assembly”.
In an interview with Bishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Job (Getcha) for Religiyna Pravda (Religious Truth), journalist Lana Samokhvalova found out whether such a situation could affect the position of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
“The Ecumenical Patriarchate of the Orthodox Church, based on Church history and canonical privileges, is the first Throne and a coordinating center of the universal Orthodoxy. No one can deny this, except to their own detriment. The one who forgets about it, quickly remembers when the challenges and problems of various kinds arise. Therefore, this situation does not affect the position of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at all.
It is important to remind and emphasize that there is no schism in Orthodoxy. For a schism to occur, an important problem of a dogmatic nature is needed, and the two sides need to break off relations. In the current situation, this is not the case. First, the issue of autocephaly of the Church of Ukraine is not a dogmatic issue, but a purely administrative one. Secondly, the Church of Russia unilaterally severed the communion with the center of universal Orthodoxy, the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Still, the Ecumenical Patriarchate did not sever the canonical unity with the Church in Russia. In Europe, no violent seizures of temples ever take place. You are probably referring to the Ecumenical See's decision to unite its structures in Western Europe: to join the former Exarchate of the Russian tradition to the local Metropolia of the Ecumenical Patriarchate?
Some persons disagreed with this decision for political or national beliefs, personal ambitions, or even very often because of misunderstandings, ignorance or naivety. For these reasons, some parishes, I mean the clergy together with the laity, voluntarily transferred to the Moscow Patriarchate. There are no attacks or court proceedings. And it is very interesting that it even happens that priests who have joined the Moscow Patriarchate ask for concelebration in the churches of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. At the same time, lay people come and receive communion. There are no problems in this because the Ecumenical Patriarchate has not severed relations with the Church of Russia,” concluded Bishop Job.