UOC bishop on decisions of ROC Synod: We’re against an-eye-for-an-eye rule

Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhye and Melitopol at a meeting of the ROC Synod

"The decisions made by the Holy Synod of the ROC regarding the Church of Constantinople leave hope for dialogue," said Met. Luke of Zaporozhye and Melitopol

At an extraordinary meeting of the Holy Synod of the ROC on September 14, 2018, in spite of everything, soft measures were taken, Met. Luke believes, reports the press service of the Zaporozhye eparchy.

"By its decisions, the Synod reminds us that we should not copy secular diplomacy, which is often guided by "an-eye-for-an-eye" rule, the metropolitan stressed. "We are against the rule: when diplomats stop talking, guns start talking. Our rule is the rule of Christ, the rule of love and peace. By this rule, we cover with love the past grievances inflicted by the Patriarchate of Constantinople (especially in the twentieth century)."

Vladyka expressed the hope that the decisions of the Synod would have a sobering effect on the hotheads of the "war party" in the Patriarchate of Constantinople, as they do not equivocally speak of the hope of continuing the dialogue, as expressed in the proposal to hold an all-Orthodox discussion at the level of the Local Churches.

"If you do not take the aforementioned countermeasures, such agents may appear in other Orthodox Churches, because there are schisms, especially national and political ones, in other Churches either, if there have been none so far, then they can arise, since the enemy of the human race does not slumber and spreads distemper everywhere. And Constantinople, wishing to advance further the ideas of its exclusive rights and privileges, its primacy in the Ecumenical Church, will evade into the so-called heresy of papacy," the bishop stressed.

At an extraordinary meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, following Phanar’s actions in Ukraine, it was decided that the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church suspends the commemoration of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

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