UOC refutes fake information on media about outcome of Phanar meeting

The meeting of the Constantinople and Moscow Patriarchs in Istanbul

In the comments of Metropolitan Emmanuel of France after the meeting of the Constantinople and Moscow Patriarchs in Istanbul, there was no information about the decision to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This is reported by the Information and Education Department of the UOC.

As reported, the media misinterpreted the words of the representative of the Constantinople Patriarchate. In his speech, Metropolitan Emmanuel did not say that the Patriarchate of Constantinople allegedly decided to grant autocephaly to the Church in Ukraine.

His direct speech literally reads the following: "As you know, in Ukraine the schism has been going on for more than 25 years, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate has decided to consider all the ways that the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church can be proclaimed. This decision was made in April, and we are already implementing this decision, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate also informed Patriarch Kirill about this during his visit."

The UOC explains: in this phrase, there is no statement that the granting of autocephaly is an approved decision. Instead, Metropolitan Emmanuel said that Patriarch Bartholomew had informed Patriarch Kirill that since April the Patriarchate of Constantinople has been exploring all possible options for granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

"The Patriarchate of Constantinople not only declared the need to search for ways to grant autocephaly but also "implemented" this decision – that is immediately began this search. However, Metropolitan Emmanuel did not report whether the Patriarchate of Constantinople has managed to find options for granting autocephaly since April, and if so, what they are. Neither was reported by the authoritative hierarch if the Patriarchate of Constantinople sets a goal to implement these options in case they should be theoretically found," the commentary says.

The Church recalled that on 22 April the Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople published a text of a communiqué from which it follows that it did not make any decisions on granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church, but only ascertained the receipt of a corresponding request from certain structures and the beginning of its study in communion with other Local Churches.

The commentary explains that the information of the resource "Hromadske" contains an incorrect interpretation of the translation from English of Metropolitan Emmanuel of France’s words: instead of the phrase "took the decision of exploring all the ways in order to issue the autocephaly", the site published the phrase "decided to use all the ways to solve the issue of granting autocephaly".

Thus, the Ukrainian media, which reprinted this information, "inflicted reputational damage on the famous hierarch of the present, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, who spoke on behalf of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Such actions by representatives of the journalistic community, like any deception, pose a threat to the inter-Orthodox dialogue on overcoming the church sсhism in Ukraine, and the information resources that circulate this fake should immediately refute it and apologize to the readers," the UOC believes.

As reported by the UOC, earlier the head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk reported that decisions on the results of the meeting of the Primate of the ROC and the Patriarchate of Constantinople would be taken by the Churches at Synod meetings. The Hierarch also said that the Patriarchate of Constantinople does not intend to solve the problem of healing the church schism in Ukraine by creating another schism.

The meeting of the Primate of the ROC and the Patriarchate of Constantinople was held on 31 August in Istanbul. During the meeting, Patriarch of Constantinople noted that the visit of Patriarch Kirill coincides with the meeting of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which is held from 1 to 3 September.

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