Pat. Kirill: There is no conflict of Phanar and Moscow, only canons defence

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus

The conciliar administration of the Church is the only correct one, and one who invades the jurisdiction of other Churches violates all canons. This was said on 28 October 2018 by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia in a Moscow church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" in Bolshaya Ordynka, reports the DECR communication service of the Russian Orthodox Church.

“As for the recent actions of Constantinople, I would like to emphasize: there is no conflict whatsoever between Constantinople and Moscow! There is Moscow defending unshakable canonical norms,” His Holiness declared. “If one of the Churches supports the schismatics, if one of the Churches violates the canons, then it ceases to be an Orthodox Church. Therefore, today the position of the Russian Orthodox Church, which has ceased the liturgical mention the Patriarch of Constantinople, is related not only to the relations of the two Patriarchates, it is about the very nature of the Orthodox Church.”

Commenting on the situation in Ukraine, Patriarch Kirill noted that it had become a “field of contention” under the influence of external forces. “Too much geopolitical and financial forces are involved in Ukraine today in order to tear apart the historical space of Holy Russia,” the First Hierarch emphasized. “And because of this, my special thanks go to the episcopate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which, under the most difficult conditions, remains loyal, keeps unity, and preaches what corresponds to historical truth.”

“Properly speaking, the Church in Ukraine continues to do what we all did in the Soviet era. The whole ideology worked against us, while we proclaimed the truth of Christ. We spoke in such a way as not to provoke the powerful authorities, but we did raise our voice,” added His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.

“We are deeply convinced that the conciliar administration of the Church is the only correct one. And if someone now intrudes into the jurisdiction of other Churches, he violates all the canons, the only answer to these shameless violations being our dispassionate answer: one can no longer take communion with you, you have violated the canons, you have departed from Orthodoxy. May God be your judge, and God will be the judge,” emphasized Patriarch Kirill .

As the UOJ reported, earlier Metropolitan Amphilochius of Montenegro and the Littoral stated: the results of the Synod of Constantinople on the Ukrainian problem are catastrophic for the Universal Church, both in terms of solving the ecclesiastic issue in Ukraine and for the unity of the Orthodox Church.

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