The position on OCU of Athonite St. Gregory Monastery published on the Net

St. Gregory Monastery on Mount Athos. Photo: ru.wikipedia.org

On October 1, 2019, the abbot of St. Gregory Monastery on Mount Athos, Archimandrite Christophoros (Stavros) sent a letter to the hierarchs of the Greek Orthodox Church, in which he announced his position on the “Ukrainian church issue”. A photocopy of this letter has now been published by fanarion.blogspot, an Internet publication close to Phanar.

“Our Holy Church is currently undergoing great trials because of the Ukrainian church issue. The unity between the Local Holy Churches of God is vacillating, and the likelihood of a split is very high,” the Father Superior turned to the hierarchs of the Greek Church. “Our pain for the Church prompted us to instruct our brethren in our Holy Abode to deeply study the issue, based on the canonical tradition and the synodal and fatherly covenants.”

The Athos cleric of the Patriarchate of Constantinople shared with the Greek hierarchs that together with the brethren of his monastery he prays to God in the Spirit of truth, Who "called for the unity of all."

“We pray that the Most Gracious Lord will instill the Spirit of truth, Who ‘called for the unity of all’, and enlighten the holy bishops with the highest wisdom to preserve the Body of Christ as one <...>,” wrote Archimandrite Christophoros. “We offer the first part of our written study with reverence and trust for the consideration of the holy hierarchs in a hope that by our efforts we contribute to the unity of the Church.”

At the same time, according to the fanarion.blogspot staff, the brethren of Athos “misunderstood their role” and erroneously think “that they have the right to vote”.

“The fact that they belong to the Holy Mount does not make them ‘bearers of ultimate truth’. They send ‘theological and holy canonical’ screeds with threats in order to maintain the ‘unity’ of the Church. <...>. But let them not worry because of the Ukrainian issue. Very soon, recognition of the Autocephaly of Ukraine (OCU – Ed.) by other Orthodox Churches will follow, so the ‘problem’ will be solved. Let them not lose their prayer time for ‘research’,” concluded the authors of the resource close to Phanar.

Earlier, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople declared that there are Churches that do not understand an age-old canonical order. During his visit to the Holy Mountain, he met with teachers and students of the “Athoniada” school in Karyaes and told them that there are Churches that do not appreciate a fraternal attitude from the Patriarchate of Constantinople towards them.

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