SOURCE REPORTS UNOFFICIAL
CONVERSATIONS
OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH AND CHURCH OF GREECE
The Greek Orthodox Church
and the
Russian Orthodox Church discussed unofficially a means for
resolving the crisis
arising in Orthodoxy because of the granting of a tomos
concerning autocephaly
to Ukraine and in relations of the two churches because of a
session of the
bishop's council of the Greek church, a source in Greek church
circles told RIA
Novosti. He said unofficial talks are being conducted in
connection with the
session of the Synod of the RPTs, planned for 17 October, at
which relations
with the Greek church will be discussed.
"It is possible to avoid
a
worsening of the situation if the RPTs makes a suggestion to
Archbishop of
Athens Ieronymos to take on the role of mediator, in order to
seat at one
table all primates of Orthodox churches, along with the
patriarch of
Constantinople, and to create a pan-Orthodox council for
resolving the problem
provoked by the Ukrainian question. That is, for ending the
split between
Constantinople and Moscow," the news agency's source said.
He said that if there
were such an
official suggestion, Ieronymos would have to accept it and
become a mediator
for resolving the crisis and this would permit avoiding a schism
also within
the Greek church.
This option is now being
discussed, the
agency's interlocutor said.
"Both the patriarch of
Constantinople and the Russian Orthodox Church accept the Greek
church,"
he added.
"The Russian Orthodox
Church took
into account the opinions of all metropolitans that were
published after the
council," the source said.
He again declared that it
is impossible
to consider that a decision of a bishop's council concerning
recognizing the
autocephaly of Ukraine has been adopted, despite another
statement by the Synod
of the Greek church. "This is untrue. They did not answer the
main
question that they was no vote," he said.
On Saturday, the Greek
church recognized
the right of the patriarch of Constantinople to grant
autocephaly and it gave
to Archbishop Ieronymos the right to make further decisions
regarding the
autocephaly of the church of Ukraine. The official final
recognition of the
"new church" of Ukraine will be the prayerful commemoration by
Ieronymous of the "primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine,"
Epifany
Dumenko.
The conduct of a joint
liturgy is
planned for 19 October, but in the new situation it may not take
place. (tr. by
PDS, posted 17 October 2019)
ORTHODOX CHURCH OF
UKRAINE RESPONDS TO
MOSCOW SPECULATION ABOUT ITS RECOGNITION IN GREECE
The deputy head of the
Department for
External Church Relations of the PTsU, Evstraty, responding to
criticism by
Moscow on Facebook, explained that the Council of the Church of
Greece, on 12 October,
recognized the autocephaly of the PTsU in accordance with all
rules.
"As I expected, the
Russian side is
trying 'to mitigate informationally' the consequences for itself
of the decision
made by the Bishops' Council of the Church of Greece. . . .
Speculation has now
begun around the fact that at the Council a vote did not occur
procedurally,
and consequently, supposedly a 'decision was not made,'" Vladyka
Evstraty
writes.
He explained that, in the
first place,
it was this procedure that was deliberately chosen, because in
the conclusions
of the synodal committees on which the Permanent Synod and
Bishops' Council
rely subsequently it is indicated that the right of the
pan-Orthodox
proclamation of autocephaly is the right of the ecumenical
patriarch. Therefore
conducting a vote on this matter in another local church would
place that right
in doubt, and that would mean all autocephalies that have been
proclaimed by
the ecumenical patriarchate, including the autocephaly of the
Greek church
itself.
"Simply put, it would
look
unnatural if, after the election of a primate in some local
church a vote were
taken in another local church as to whether to accept his
election,"
Vladyka Evstraty writes, and he argues further for the legality
of the
recognition of Ukrainian autocephaly.
"In the second place, the
Council
chose especially a committee headed by Metropolitan Ieronymos
for the public
presentation of its position. So that the statement he made
after the Council
about recognizing the autocephaly of the Ukrainian church is not
simply the
opinion of an individual hierarch (like the opinions of those
who do not wish
to support the conciliar decision and upon whose statements the
Moscow side is
trying to rely in its propaganda). Metropolitan Ieronymos
announced the
official position of the Council, and consequently the position
of the Church
of Greece.
"One way or another, in a
week this
Moscow informational smog will dissipate. But it is necessary,
it would seem,
to explain obvious things so that as few people as possible are
poisoned by
it." (tr. by PDS, posted 17 October 2019)
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