BREAKING
NEWS: PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA AND ALL-AFRICA THEODORE II
RECOGNIZES P.Ts.U.
Today, 8
November, Patriarch of Alexandria and all-Africa Theodore II,
during the Divine Liturgy on the day of the Synaxis of the
Archangel Michael (new style) in the church in his honor in the
capital of Egypt, commemorated the name of Metropolitan of Kiev
and all-Ukraine Epifany as the primate of the autocephalous
Orthodox Church of Ukraine (PTsU).
The
reliability is confirmed from two news sources. An official
report is expected later. This was stated in Facebook by the
spokesman of the PTsU, Archbishop Evstraty.
In this
way, the patriarchate of Alexandria joined the churches that
recognize the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. As
is known, the Alexandria church occupies second place after the
ecumenical patriarchate in the diptychs. (tr. by PDS, posted 8
November 2019)
R.P.Ts.
CONSIDERS FURTHER COMMEMORATION OF ALEXANDRIA PATRIARCH
IMPOSSIBLE
Interfax-Religiia,
8 November 2019
The
recognition of the uncanonical church of Ukraine (PTsU) by the
patriarch of Alexandria makes it impossible for Patriarch Kirill
to commemorate him, the patriarchate of Moscow declared.
"The
Russian Orthodox Church is deeply saddened by the news about the
decision of Patriarch of Alexandria Theodore to recognize
Epifany Dumenko as the leader of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine
and to commemorate his name in the diptychs of the Alexandria
church. This means that the commemoration of the name of the
patriarch of Alexandria will not be able to continue in the
performance of patriarchal divine services in the Russian
Orthodox Church," the vice-chairman of the synodal Department
for External Church Relations, Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, told
Interfax on Friday.
He said
that the Holy Synod of the Moscow patriarchate will consider the
news being received in making subsequent decisions.
Earlier
today it was learned that the primate of another one of the
Orthodox churches of the world, the Alexandrine, Patriarch
Theodore, recognized the PTsU, mentioning during the liturgy the
name of its leader, Epifany, as the primate of one of the local
Orthodox churches.
In late
October, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop
Ieronymos II, recognized the PTsU, despite opposition on the
part of his own episcopate.
The
patriarch of Alexandria is "second in honor" after the patriarch
of Constantinople among the primates of local Orthodox churches
of the world. In his youth, he studied at the University of
Odessa and later, from 1985 to 1990, he was the rector of the
Alexandrian extension in Odessa. Until now, Patriarch Theodore
had been known as one of the chief defenders of canonical
Orthodoxy in Ukraine.
A year
ago, soon after the patriarch of Constantinople recognized the
Ukrainian schism, Theodore II made a visit to Odessa in order to
express solidarity with the canonical church of that country,
and he promised it his support on the international level.
The PTsU
was created in December of last year with the cooperation of the
patriarchate of Constantinople and the then leadership of
Ukraine led by President Petro Poroshenko. Until recently, it
was not recognized by a single one of the Orthodox churches of
the world, with the exception of the Constantinople church. (tr.
by PDS, posted 8 November 2019)
ALEXANDRIA
PATRIARCH PERSONALLY ANNOUNCES THAT DECISION RECOGNIZING P.Ts.U.
WAS CAREFULLY WEIGHED
A video
has appeared of a speech by Patriarch of Alexandria Theodore II,
where he explains the decision of his church to recognize the
PTsU [Orthodox Church of Ukraine].
"The
ancient patriarchate of Alexandria, after much prayer and after
much deliberation, in the presence of many bishops and in the
presence of His Grace the ambassador of Greece, would like to
officially declare that as of today the Orthodox Autocephalous
Church of Ukraine is entered into the diptychs."
[A photo
of a letter in Greek, followed by a translation into Russian]
"Protocol
No. 115/2019, translation by Cerkvarium.
"To the
most reverend and reverend bishops of our Holy Apostolic See of
Saint Mark
"Beloved
holy bishops. After we discussed personally with each of you,
with positive result, and after mature reflection and numerous
prayers, and after invoking the inspiration of the Comforter the
Holy Spirit, and having concern for the unity of the Orthodox
Church, we have come to the decision to recognize the
autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and of its
primate, His Beatitude Epifany, because the time has come.
"+Pope
and Patriarch of Alexandria and all-Africa Theodore II
"In the
great city of Alexandria
"8
November 2019"
(tr. by
PDS, posted 8 November 2019)
ALEXANDRIAN
PATRIARCHATE
OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZES P.Ts.U.
Union
of Orthodox
Journalists, 8 November 2019
Evstraty
Zoria
published an official communiqué of the Chief Secretariat of
the patriarchate
of Alexandria and all-Africa about recognition of the PTsU
[Orthodox Church of
Ukraine].
On 8
November 2019
the Alexandrian patriarchate recognized the PTsU, the
spokesman of the new
church structure, Evstraty Zoria, reported on his Facebook
page.
Zoria
published a
photocopy of the official communication of the Chief
Secretariat of the
patriarchate of Alexandria and all-Africa, in which the
Alexandrian
patriarchate gave information about the "recognition of the
patriarchal
and synodal tomos of the ecumenical patriarchate concerning
the autocephaly of
the Ukrainian church and the inclusion of the name of the
primate of the Orthodox
Church of Ukraine, His Beatitude Metropolitan of Kiev and
all-Ukraine Epifany,
in the diptychs for commemoration."
After
the divine
worship in which the name of Epifany was read among the
primates of local
churches, Patriardh Theodore gave a commentary, in which he
called this an
"important event in the church." "From today, our patriarchate
has inscribed in the diptych the 'autocephalous Orthodox
Church of Ukraine' and
His Beatitude Metropolitan Epifany. Henceforth Epifany will be
commemorated in
churches of the patriarchate of Alexandria."
The
Union of Orthodox
Journalists is publishing the full text of a [Russian]
translation of the
official communiqué:
"In
recent
months we have seen the order/desire of the holy fraternal
bishops to recognize
the grant of autonomy to the Ukrainian church through the
tomos of His Holiness
the Ecumenical Patriarch.
"As is
known to
all, our Holy Catholic Orthodox Church functions through a
conciliar system of
administration, as it received by tradition and from the Holy
Ecumenical
Councils. Because of this the primates of the local church
councils are their
members.
"Because
of this
we also, as a member and executive authority of the order or
desire of the
brothers of the holy bishops have commemorated in the diptychs
of the Catholic
Orthodox Church the primate of the autocephalous church of
Kiev and
all-Ukraine, His Beatitude Metropolitan Epifany, fervently
praying for the peace
and prosperity of our Orthodox churches.
"In
Alexandria,
8 November 2019.
"From
the
General Secretariat of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and
all-Africa."
(tr.
by PDS, posted 8
November 2019)
ALEXANDRIAN
PATRIARCH
RECOGNIZES P.Ts.U: WHAT THIS MEANS
The
patriarchate of
Alexandria, the most senior after the ecumenical patriarchate,
officially
recognized the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
Patriarch of
Alexandria and all-Africa Theodore II mentioned the primate of
the Orthodox
Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan of Kiev and all-Ukraine Epifany,
during the
liturgy on 8 November in the church of the Archangels in Cairo,
Romfea and
Orthodoxia report.
Thereby
the
patriarchate of Alexandria became the second patriarchate that
has recognized the
PTsU. Meanwhile, there has been no official report about this
yet from the
patriarchate of Alexandria.
It
should be noted
that recognition of the PTsU by the patriarchate of Alexandria
is a powerful
signal for the whole Orthodox world. The point is that many
other local
churches have already stated that they will decide regarding
their attitude
toward the Orthodox Church of Ukraine after the old
patriarchates, like
Alexandria, recognize it.
Such a
step may be
expected from the patriarchate of Jerusalem. In the foreseeable
future the PTsU
may be recognized by the Cypriot, Georgian, and Romanian
autocephalous
churches. The greatest problems with recognition of the PTsU are
expected in
churches that are oriented toward the Moscow patriarchate. Thus
one should not
expect recognition from the Polish Orthodox Church, the
patriarchate of Antioch
in Syria, the Serbian Orthodox Church, and the churches of the
Czech Lands and
Slovakia.
As
reported earlier,
the RPTs has partially broken off relations with the Greek
church because of
recognition of the PTsU. (tr. by PDS, posted 8 November 2019)
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