UOC spokesman: The crisis of world Orthodoxy will help solve old problems

Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich. Photo: news.church.ua

The crisis of world Orthodoxy can solve old problems, said Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, deputy head of the UOC DECR on the “1Kozak” channel.

“Any crisis is the beginning of different opportunities. This crisis, which world Orthodoxy has entered, is a crisis that should help the world Orthodox Church to handle those problems that are not resolved yet, to heal those diseases that are repressed, chronic diseases,” he explained.

We should pray and think about convening the pan-Orthodox Council, the spokesman for the UOC believes.

“Now society is already tired of these problems, of these church disputes,” added Archpriest Nikolai. “In principle, it is very good that the authorities and society left the Church alone. Because, the times are calm, or relatively calm – these are the times when our Church develops. Turbulent times, times of revolutions, maidans, socio-political cataclysms are the times when other faiths come to the surface, in particular – the UOC-KP, UAOC, which today are already the OCU.”

The clergyman also explained that the decision of a part of the hierarchs of the Greek Orthodox Church on the recognition of the OCU was accepted calmly in the UOC. Many Greek bishops oppose the recognition of this church structure, and the Church of Greece has the Synodal form of government, said Archpriest Nikolai.

“Many bishops told me (I will not give names) that "even if our Church recognizes the OCU, I will never let them in my metropolis, I will not serve with them". This was said to me last summer and this summer, too,” the spokesman for the UOC recalled.

That is why the delicate and soft stance of the Russian Orthodox Church is correct, he explained. According to the head of the UOC DECR, such a position of the Russian Orthodox Church enables healthy forces inside the Church of Greece and other Churches to "resist this virus of sin and the recognition of the schism that is going on".

The clergyman also expressed surprise at the fact that the 30-year-old Ukrainian schism is attempted to be healed by those who for 100 years have not been able to solve the problem with their schismatic old calendarists. The old calendarists are re-ordained, and our schismatics without consecration are received “in their rank”, which is fiction, Archpriest Nikolai noted. He explained that only those who understand all the pain it causes can solve the problem of schism. In the Church of Greece, many understand the pain of the Ukrainian schism, and those who feel it support the UOC and speak out against the recognition of the OCU.

Earlier, he drew attention to the fact that the Phanar wants to make the Church of Greece a party to its erroneous actions.

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