Greek cleric: Phanar could admit impostors from OCU only via repentance

Epifaniy Dumenko and Filaret Denisenko. Photo: pravda.com.ua

The priest of the Orthodox Church of Greece, Protopresbyter Konstantin Mega, believes that the Patriarchate of Constantinople had to accept the Ukrainian schismatics into communion with the Church only through repentance, according to the Greek edition Romfea.

The priest is sure that both Filaret and Epifaniy are outside the Church, and their acceptance into communion with the Church as self-proclaimed hierarchs could only be done through repentance and renunciation of claims to serve the Altar. Even through the chrismation” (with holy chrism – Ed.),” he emphasizes.

Perhaps, Father Konstantin says, “in the case of priests, if there are good priests among them, the Church can do this in line with the provisions of the First Ecumenical Council like in the case of the Melitian schism.”

However, according to the Protopresbyter of the Church of Greece, “the synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate repeated, on a much larger scale, the experience of the past, when it accepted the Greek Catholic diocese in America under its jurisdiction without observing the canonical provisions and without taking into consideration natural liturgical consequences.”

“Although the Carpathian-Rus diocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the United States is headed by a Greek hierarch, it follows the traditions of the Greek Catholic communities, when singing the Creed with the Filioque addition,” wrote the priest.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that according to the Piraeus Metropolis of the Hellenic Orthodox Church, the recognition of the OCU by the Church of Greece is a pre-eminent scandal.

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