Phanar’s hierarch: ROC's position is akin to union-begetting policy of RCC

Archbishop Job of Telmessos, Permanent Representative of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to the World Council of Churches

The Patriarchate of Constantinople offers autocephaly in Ukraine not as a “weapon” to declare war or divide Orthodoxy but as a “medicine” that heals the schism. This was announced in an interview published on October 7 by the Orthodoxie.com, by the Permanent Representative of the Constantinople Patriarchate to the World Council of Churches, Archbishop Job (Getcha) of Telmessos.

According to him, in 1991 all the bishops of the UOC, who were under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate, had already asked the Patriarch of Moscow for autocephaly to prevent the spread of schisms.

“The Moscow Patriarchate did not want to provide it (autocephaly – note. Ed.), which only aggravated the situation, said the representative of the Church of Constantinople. “For all these thirty years, the Moscow Patriarchate has believed that in order to achieve unity of the Church, schismatic groups must return to its jurisdiction. This return policy is similar to the ancient policy of the Roman Church, which gave rise to Uniatism.”

According to Archbishop Job, today millions of Orthodox Ukrainians are unwilling to be under the jurisdiction of Moscow “for obvious reasons”, therefore the unity of Orthodoxy must be saved by applying “canonical dispensation and God's grace”.

Earlier, Metropolitan Anthony of Borispol and Brovary, Chancellor of the UOC, said that the Patriarchate of Constantinople with its actions does not heal but legalize the split in Ukraine. As reported by the UOJ, on September 7, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople appointed Archbishop Daniel of Pamphilon (the U.S) and Bishop Hilarion of Edmonton (Canada) as its exarchs in Kiev "within the framework of the preparations for the granting of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine".

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