DECR MP: Head of Fanar has no answers to convince Churches to recognize OCU

Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, Deputy Head of the DECR MP. Photo: RIA Novosti

Patriarch Bartholomew cannot give convincing answers that can compel the Local Churches to recognize the autocephaly of the OCU, and simply repeats that he is right. Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, deputy head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate (DECR MP), said this following the visit of the head of Phanar to Ukraine, RIA Novosti reports.

The clergyman analyzed the speeches of the Patriarch of Constantinople in Kyiv and stated they contain a collection of clichés saying that the autocephaly of the OCU was allegedly granted completely legally, that Phanar has certain privileges that give him the right to make individual decisions with respect to other Local Churches, that Constantinople has changed nothing in traditional Orthodox ecclesiology, etc.

According to the deputy head of the DECR MP, such rhetoric of Patriarch Bartholomew "shows that His Holiness is worried about the criticism of the non-canonical invasion of the Patriarchate of Constantinople into Ukrainian affairs, which comes from the hierarchs, theologians and historians of many Orthodox Churches."

“Yet the patriarch is unable to give convincing answers that compel other Local Churches of the Orthodox family to recognize the new autocephaly of the ‘Most Holy Church of Ukraine’. He simply repeats over and over that he is always right, because the Constantinople throne is always right; that the "Great Church of Christ", with which he identifies himself, has no need to discuss anything with anyone, because he never makes mistakes and always crucifies and sacrifices himself for our common good and invites all Orthodox to take it on faith. Otherwise, he says, they will no longer be Orthodox,” said Archpriest Nikolai Balashov.

He stressed that the Orthodox do not and never had such a dogma of faith, and the Patriarch of Constantinople is not at all the Pope of Rome.

“In his festive speech at the walls of St. Sophia of Kyiv, the head of Phanar complains about some ‘neologisms, new formulations and unsafe ecclesiological views’, as well as ‘attempts to overturn church dogmas’ and tendencies to ‘belittle the importance of the Archbishop of Constantinople’ almost to the point of a ‘museum exhibit’. He even admits that ‘there are many who believe that the Ecumenical Patriarch is deviating from reality.’ In response, feeling apparently that his current argumentation is insufficient, he promises to ‘showcase’ both the relevant texts and the entire course of this issue ‘in the near future’.

Well. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus has long proposed to the Patriarch of Constantinople, including during his last visit to Phanar in August 2018, to study together the 'relevant texts' and the historical course of the issue, inviting the best scholars from different countries," added the Archpriest.

We will remind, earlier the visit of the head of Phanar to Kyiv was commented on by the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill.

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