Political expert: Following, to applause, Tomos and being captured

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

The Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church followed the Tomos and were captured. This is how Ruslan Bortnik commented on the decisions of the Synod of Constantinople on his Facebook page.

“Sometimes the traditions of Byzantine politics cause sincere ‘admiration’," the expert notes. “Just think about it: accompanied with thunderous applause of the excited crowd, the Phanar DOES NOT grant a tomos but proclaim “stavropegion” over Kiev, the ownership of the monasteries and temples of all Orthodox denominations, i.e. “what used to belong to Filaret, Makariy and Onufriy is now mine”.

According to him, the UOC KP and the UAOC, which advocated the Tomos, “eventually were taken prisoner”: “De facto it looks like the creation of an ‘exarchate’”.

The next “lesson of the Byzantine policy”, in the opinion of the political expert, is lifting of the anathema as a result of which both “patriarchs” have lost their ranks, and their churches have lost their independence.

Further, Bortnik noted the abolition of the “legal obligations” of 1686, without revoking of the letter itself, and the fact that the Synod had disclaimed any responsibility for possible further confrontation.

“Politicians and political experts, get the hang!” summarized Bortnik. “Just remember that owing to the policy of the Byzantine Empire, it has not existed for 600 years now.”

Recall that the Synod of the Constantinople Orthodox Church finished its work in Istanbul yesterday. The official document on the outcome of the meeting of the Synod did not say anything about the approved decision to grant autocephaly to Ukraine. The adopted resolution says that the process will continue: “to renew the decision on that the Ecumenical Patriarchate will proceed to the granting of Autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine”. Thus, the document declared only the desire to bestow autocephaly. Nevertheless, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko congratulated the nation on receiving autocephaly.

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