Piraeus, February 18, 2020
Photo: spzh.news
Through its relation with the Greek Catholic Uniates, the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” will prove to be a catalyst for the future unification of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, warns the Office of Heresies and Cults of the Church of Greece’s Metropolis of Piraeus.
His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus is known as a staunch defender of Patristic Orthodoxy and while the majority of his brother bishops in the Greek Church have passively gone along with the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s ill-conceived territorial grab in Ukraine, he has spoken out several times against recognizing the OCU, emphasizing the need for a pan-Orthodox council to resolve the problems created by Constantinople.
According to the authors of the new statement, published on the Metropolis’ website, “Ukrainian autocephaly is aimed at promoting the ‘unification of Churches,’ of papism and Orthodoxy.”
“At the first stage, the goal is to ‘unite’ the schismatics of Epiphany with the Ukrainian Uniates, in order to create a single Local ‘Church,’ which will include the Uniates and those who follow Epiphany,” the statement reads.
Svyatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Uniates, has publicly spoken of the goal of uniting the two “churches” in communion with both Rome and Constantinople, and Epiphany Dumenko has repeatedly spoke about the need to draw ever nearer to the Uniates.
“At the next stage, most likely, they will seek to absorb all Orthodox Churches that follow the Ecumenical Patriarchate, with all Uniate local ‘churches’ that will be subject to the primacy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,” the statement continues.
And finally, “in the third and final stage, the ‘unification’ of world Orthodoxy with heretical papism will be carried out through all these unitized hybrid ‘churches’ created at that time.”
The Metropolis’ Office of Heresies and Cults is confident that “’Orthodox’ and papists will submit to the Pope through the Ecumenical Patriarch. First in line will be the pope and immediately after him—the Ecumenical Patriarch.”
The statement also predicts that “the unification of world Orthodoxy with heretical papism will be officially formalized at the jubilee ‘Ecumenical Council’ in 2025 in honor of the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council.”
The Metropolis recalls that “the schismatics of Epiphany are in very close relations and contacts with the Ukrainian Uniates,” and “Mr. Sergei Dumenko himself, as well as the ‘bishops’ around him not only develop relations of cooperation, but also pray together, as if they were the Uniate Orthodox ‘Church.’”
The statement also says that “The Phanar wants us as Orthodox to swallow communication with schismatics, so that we can swallow the lack of Apostolic Succession in their hierarchy. Gradually we will get used to our relations with the Uniates. And finally, we will take a step towards falling into the arms of the pope.”
In particular, the statement notes that Alexander Drabinko, one of two canonical hierarchs who abandoned the Orthodox Church to join the schismatics, recently prayed with Uniate heretics. “Hierarchs” and “clergy” of the OCU have openly concelebrated with Latin Catholics, Uniate Greek Catholics, Montenegrin schismatics, and Belarusian schismatics.
The statement also emphasizes that the OCU is heavily tied to the U.S. government and the radical nationalists at home in Ukraine.
