They will speak on whether Ukraine is ready to receive autocephaly
Constantinople, October 9, 2018
Photo: theorthodoxchurch.info The next meeting of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople began this morning in Constantinople, reports BBC News Ukraine.
The session, running through Thursday, is being held behind closed doors, and the agenda has not been officially announced, though Ukrainian schismatics have repeatedly announced that the bishops will discuss the Ukrainian issue at this meeting, and, as they assume, will decide to grant autocephaly to them.
His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has also stated that autocephaly is coming soon to Ukraine.
A related question for the Synod to deal with is the anathema placed on schismatic “Patriarchate” Philaret Denisenko of the “Kiev Patriarchate,” who has formally petitioned the Ecumenical Patriarchate to lift the ban placed on him by the Russian Orthodox Church, from which he schismed in the 1990s.
According to a source within the Ecumenical Patriarchate who spoke with Kommersant, every time Philaret speaks about the prospect of seizing the Kiev Caves and Pochaev Lavras and other monasteries and churches, it delays the granting of autocephaly. While Constantinople is catering to the Russophobia of Ukrainian schismatics, it does not want to encourage the violence that arises from nationalistic tensions.
The patriarchal exarchs sent to Kiev last month, Archbishop Daniel of Pamphilon and Bishop Ilarion of Edmonton from Canada, were also invited to the meeting to present on their work with the schismatics in Ukraine and to speak on whether Ukraine is ready to receive autocephaly, reports TASS with reference to the Ukrainian television channel Pryamoi.
The exarchs were tasked with negotiating with the schismatic “Kiev Patriarchate” and the schismatic “Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.” They also met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, telling him they were on a mission from God.
No exarch was sent to deal with the canonical Ukrainian Church, and after the exarchs arrived, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine announced that he would not meet with them, as they were uncanonically encroaching upon his territory, having arrived without a blessing.
In response, Archbishop Job (Getcha) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate protested that the Ukrainian Church has no right to denounce Constantinople’s actions, adding that Pat. Bartholomew himself traveled to Ukraine ten years ago, for the celebration of the 1,020th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’, without any invitation from the Church.
However, the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s own site shows this to be blatantly false. During his toast at the official banquet hosted by His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir (the primate of the Ukrainian Church at that time) on July 27, 2008, the text of which is posted on the Phanar’s site, Pat. Bartholomew addressed Met. Vladimir, saying, “Most reverend beloved brother Metropolitan of Kiev, our presence here after the generous invitation of His Beatitude, the Patriarch Alexei [of Moscow—O.C.] and His Excellency, President YUSHCHENKO…”
Moreover, the press release, posted on the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s site, announcing Pat. Bartholomew’s then-upcoming visit to Ukraine reads, “Having evaluated the invitations of the Church, Nation and the Ukrainian people, and in honoring their feelings, the Mother Church— as the one who originally guided the Ukrainian people into baptism—decided to respond to the aforementioned invitations through the sending of a Patriarchal Delegation under the personal leadership of His All Holiness.”
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