Priest: Those deferring to Patriarch Bartholomew to back OCU are papists

Fr. Peter Heers. Photo: UOJ

American theologian Fr. Peter Heers, a priest of the Romanian Patriarchate in the United States, said in an interview with UOJ-Greece edition that those who justify recognizing the OCU (Orthodox Church of Ukraine) by citing Patriarch Bartholomew's decisions, while absolving themselves of responsibility, are displaying a papist mentality.

Fr. Heers described the practice of shifting responsibility for decisions onto the head of the Phanar as a form of neo-papism.

“When a bishop says, ‘I bear no responsibility, I don't want responsibility, let the Patriarch take responsibility and make this or that decision,’ and does not want the conciliar system to function – forgive me, but that bishop has a problem,” the priest stressed. “His way of thinking is not Orthodox. What does it mean to say that the Patriarch should decide for the entire Church? That is called papism, not Orthodox ecclesiology.”

According to the theologian, no patriarch has the right to make decisions on behalf of the entire Church acting alone.

“In the Acts of the Apostles, it does not say, ‘Peter has spoken.’ It says, ‘It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us’ – to the Holy Spirit and to us, not to me,” Fr. Heers recalled. “Decisions affecting the entire world and the entire Church cannot be made by one person, even a patriarch. That is not Orthodox.”

Earlier, Archimandrite Ephraim (Koutsou), abbot of Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos, was asked by believers why Mount Athos does not protest against the OCU. He replied that he was a monk, not a bishop, and that “decisions in the Church are not made by me or by any other Athonite abbot... That is the responsibility of synods.”

As the UOJ previously reported, Patriarch Bartholomew said he was praying for Ukrainians to unite around Epifaniy.

Read also