The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate sharply criticized the decision of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to break the Eucharistic communion, adopted on September 14.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate sharply criticized the decision of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to break the Eucharistic communion, adopted on September 14. This is said in the Statement of the Press Center of the Kyiv Patriarchate
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On September 14, 2018, at its extraordinary meeting, the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to suspend the remembrance of His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew at worship, to cease concelebration with the hierarchs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and to stop the participation of all the organs in which the chairs of the Constantinople Patriarchate are chairmen or co-chairs. The reason for such a decision is the appointment by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of two Exarchs in Kyiv in the framework of preparation for the provision of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
With the blessing of His Holiness Filaret, Patriarch of Kyiv and All Russia-Ukraine, the Press Center of the Kyivan Patriarchate reports the following:
1. The Kyivan Patriarchate considers the decision of the Synod of the ROC as groundless, not justified either from theological, historical or the canonical point of view.
The cessation of remebrance by one Church Primate of another Church Primate and the breaking of Eucharistic communication between the hierarchs may be justified by serious violations of theological character (sermon and propagation of heresy or other false teaching). The question of Church-administrative nature (the appointment of representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarch), even in the presence of objections from another Church, must be resolved at the Church-administrative level, and not through a rupture of unity in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
By doing so, the Moscow Patriarchate in fact equated the external, secular aspect of the Church's life to her essential, mysterious perspective, equating the issues of the rights of governance and authorities of the hierarchs – to unity in Christ. This proved once again that our Church has been witnessing for many years: for current leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate brings in “the vanities of worldly honour under pretext of sacred office” (Canon 8 of the 3rd Ecumenical Council).
2. Although the Moscow Patriarchate considers Ukraine “its canonical territory”, in reality it is not the case. The Ecumenical Patriarch has never ceded his canonical rights to the Kyivan Metropolis. The capture by Russian Orthodox Church of the authority over the Church in Ukraine in the 17th century was not governed by the canonical rules and is not valid, as indicated by the aforementioned rule: “...so that none of the God-loved Bishops shall assume control of any province which has not heretofore, from the very beginning, been under his own hand or that of his predecessors. But if anyone has violently taken and subjected [a Province], he shall give it up; lest the Canons of the Fathers be transgressed; or the vanities of worldly honour be brought in under pretext of sacred office; or we lose, without knowing it, little by little, the liberty which Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Deliverer of all men, hath given us by His own Blood.”
It is also known that since the time of the Baptism of Askold (mid-9th century) and Volodymyr (late 10th century), Rus-Ukraine had a canonical and hierarchical connection with the Ecumenical Patriarchal Throne of Constantinople as with its Mother Church. It is also known and obvious that the first canonically recognized Ecumenical Orthodox Primate of the Moscow Patriarchate was appointed by Patriarch Jeremiah II of Constantinople at the end of the 16th century, that is, more than six centuries later, from the time of the formation of the Kyiv Metropolis. It is clear, proceeding from this simple fact that the Kyiv Metropolis was never and could never be from the very beginning under the sway of the Moscow Patriarchs.
Thus, the statement of the ROC’s leaders that the appointment of Exarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate “violates the canonical territory” of the Moscow Patriarchate is unfounded. On the contrary, for over 300 years the Moscow Patriarchate has drastically violated the canonical regulations, in particular Canon 8 of the III Ecumenical Council. Therefore, it is their actions, and not the actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople that are subject to canonical condemnation.
3. Until now, one of the main motives for the Episcopate, clergy, monasticism and laity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine to remain subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate was the conviction that through this subordination they maintain unity with the Fullness of Orthodoxy, with the Local Orthodox Churches. We have repeatedly refuted this view, but especially now all the bishops, clergy, monks and nuns and laymen must realize: while remaining under the authority of the Moscow Patriarch, they are breaking jointly with him the prayerful and eucharistic unity with the Ecumenical Patriarch, and therefore do not preserve the unity of Orthodoxy, but together with the ROC are moving to full schism.
Expressing support for the current decisions and actions of the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Mother Church of Constantinople in providing autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, including the appointment of the Exarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarch to Kyiv, the Kyivan Patriarchate condemns the decision of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on September 14, 2018. In her prayers, our Church wishes to His Holiness Bartholomew, the Ecumenical Patriarch, and the hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate God’s support in the work for the resumption of the canonical order in Orthodoxy jeopardized by the statements of the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church.