MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE ACCUSED OF CONSPIRACY WITH BULGARIANS
Orthodox churches speak out against unipolarity
by Aleksei Zygmont
Nezavisimaia Gazeta, 7 June 2016
Following the Bulgarian church, the Antioch church refused to participate in the Pan-Orthodox Council. The Constantinople patriarchate urges conducting the council at the scheduled time and it is openly supported by the Romanian church. Hierarchs of the Constantinople patriarchate and the Greek archbishopric explain the problem with the Bulgarians as intrigues of the Russian Orthodox Church.
At a session of the synod on 6 June, the Antioch Orthodox Church resolved to refuse to participate in the council in the event that a number of obstacles to its conduct are not immediately removed, the chief of which remain disagreements among local Orthodox churches relative to its rules, documents, and expenses, as well as the vagueness of its goals.
One of the main reasons for such a decision by the Antiochians was the suggestion by Constantinople, unacceptable to them, to resolve the conflict between Antioch and Jerusalem regarding the jurisdiction of Qatar by means of a special commission just after the council. In their resolution they also noted the suggestion by the RPTs to convene a pre-council conference by 10 June, but only in the sense that Moscow "also does not agree with it;" the synod of the Antioch church did not speak either in favor of or against such an event.
On the same day, the head of the Department of External Church Relations of the RPTs, Metropolitan Ilarion, in an interview with television channel Rossiia 24 pointed to the necessity to continue the discussion of accumulated problems: "We proposed to the Constantinople patriarch to conduct a pre-council conference at which to decide all those questions by reason of which churches are now, one after another, refusing to participate. If these questions are resolved, that means the council will occur. If they are not resolved, then probably it is better to postpone it." At the same time he did not say a word about the circumstance that Constantinople at that time had sent to all churches urgent communiqués calling for certain participation in the council, thereby refusing to accept Moscow's suggestion. On 7 June this decision was approved by Archbishop Irineos Athanasiadis, the primate of the Crete Orthodox Church, which has semiautonomous status within the Constantinople patriarchate. In an interview with Crete news media, he noted that the peculiarities of one of the churches cannot displace the unanimity of all the rest. On the same day at a session of the synod of the Romanian church, its head, Patriarch Daniel, spoke out in support of such a decision. Considering that for more than two decades now he has been conducting vigorous ecumenical activity and since 1990 has been a member of the presidium and central committee of the Conference of European Churches, his reaction is natural.
Among the hierarchs and believers of various
churches, the
argument has not abated regarding what is going on, how to
understand it, and
who is to blame. In the Constantinople and Greek churches, the
rejection by the
Bulgarians is linked directly with the "cunning" of Moscow. For
example, Metropolitan
of Hierapytna
and Siteia Evgeny Politis (Crete Orthodox Church)
stated that
Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill "behaves like a tsar" and
that
it was he who forced the Bulgarians to boycott the council.
Metropolitan of
Messinia Chrysostomos Savvatos (Greek Orthodox Church) expressed
the conviction
on Greek radio that Moscow specifically created the problem in
order then to
present itself in the capacity of mediator for its resolution
and thereby get
more victory points. The Greek newspaper Bema points to a
possible link between
the Bulgarians' refusal and statements by the RPTs that the
council will not be
able to meet in the event that even one of the local churches
does not
participate. However the position of Patriarch of Constantinople
Bartholomew
was defined in the newspaper as "stoihema," a gamble, and
moreover it
is quite risky. Although among the bishops of the Greek church
there is no
unity observed in the sense that they dislike the conduct of
both
Constantinople and Moscow equally, officially they have stood up
for holding
the council.
Metropolitan of
Lovchantsy Gabriel (Bulgarian Orthodox Church), in an interview
with the
Internet portal Dobrotoliubie, rejects such suggestions and
declares that the
decision of the synod of the BOC could not be a foregone
conclusion. He also
declared that there is no sense in holding the council if the
most important
decisions are made by the patriarchs of Constantinople and
Moscow, bypassing
him.
In Russia,
Bulgaria, and Greece, Patriarch Bartholomew is accused of
wishing to be an
"Orthodox pope" and wrongly ascribing to himself primacy in the
Orthodox world.
Thus the picture
has developed as follows: the ecumenical patriarchate stands
"for"
the Pan-Orthodox Council by any means. It is unambiguously
supported by Romania
and Greece and conditionally by Alexandria, Jerusalem, and
Cyprus. The Antioch
and Bulgarian churches have already chosen to withdraw and the
Georgian and
Serbian churches have simply voted against the council. The
churches of Albania,
Poland, the Czech Land, and Slovakia have maintained silence.
Moscow demands a
pre-council conference; however in the event it does not occur
it also takes a
position "against" the council. As a counterpoint to all these
official positions, criticism of the event on the part of
"zealots of
piety" from the whole Orthodox world has not abated for a
minute. For now
the council has more chances of not being held than of
happening. The
"historic" meeting of churches is perishing under the weight of
the
contradictions that have surfaced in the Orthodox world. (tr. by
PDS, posted 8
June 2016)
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