Supporters of the Moscow Patriarchate still cannot forgive Patriarch Bartholomew for the Tomos of autocephaly that he granted to the Ukrainian Church. The monasticism of the UOC-MP, which held its congress in the Pochayiv Lavra on July 15, called this act "an unprecedented crime against the Church."
This is stated in their appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarch.
"We are at a loss to guess what motivated your decisions, but we see firsthand what they led to. With embarrassment in our hearts and sorrow, we, the monks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, ask you, Patriarch Bartholomew, how does your morality accept the level of embarrassment that your decision brought to our country: the seizure of churches, the beating of ordinary believers, discrimination against our pastors and flock at the state level, calls for the destruction of our clergy?" they ask.
According to the monks of the Moscow Patriarchate, Patriarch Bartholomew most likely acted on the instructions of some anti-church circles.
"In order to please what anti-Church forces did you commit an unprecedented crime against the Church? Do you realize that in the bloody confrontation that sows grief among our people, you have brought new seeds of religious struggle, from which the Lord saved us before?"
Therefore, the monks of the UOC-MP advise the Ecumenical Patriarch to reconsider all his decisions.
On July 15, 2021, in the Holy Dormition Pochayiv Lavra, Congress of monasticism of the UOC-MP was held, which was attended by 300 people: vicars (hegumens), abbesses and representatives of monasteries and hermitages of the UOC-MP.
The meeting lasted only a day - without serious discussion, without the creation of sections and working commissions.
Famous theologian Andrey Kuraev called this Congress "show-off and vanity fair".
"Well, yes, from their faces and golden crosses, you can see how hard they suffer and how cruelly they are persecuted," Kuraev wrote on Facebook.