Metropolitan Hilarion: Phanar head invaded Ukraine for a political purpose

Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev). Photo: iz.ru

The actions of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople in Ukraine are dictated by the political order of the United States, which applies the principle of "divide and rule" worldwide, which has already led to an aggravation of division in Ukrainian society, said Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev), Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, on the air program Church and Peace, according to the website of the DECR MP.

“He (the head of Phanar – Ed.) fulfilled the order in full: today the Ukrainian society is divided not only over the question of language, political orientation, but also on religious grounds,” said the hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. “Patriarch Bartholomew promised to heal the schism, but it deepened; he promised to unite the Orthodox believers, but instead of unification, there occurred a further separation, polarization.”

Metropolitan Hilarion believes that the ROC, with its consolidating role, opposes the plans of the United States, so they used the head of Phanar to attack the canonical Church in Ukraine, trying in this way to weaken Orthodox unity. “The Russian Orthodox Church plays a consolidating role throughout the post-Soviet space,” said the hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. “Even in a situation where conflicts arise between states, the Church continues to unite people; hence it is an eyesore for those politicians who use the ‘divide and rule’ principle.”

As reported by the UOJ, the ROC compared the head of Phanar with a thief and a robber that “climbs in by some other way”.

Read also