Kiev, September 26, 2019
Photo: romfea.news
Metropolitan Emmanuel of Gaul of the Patriarchate of Constantinople presided over the Patriarchate’s “unification council” on December 15 that united two groups of Ukrainian schismatics—the “Kiev Patriarchate” (KP) and the “Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church”—into the new, and also unrecognized, “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (OCU).
The metropolitan was back in Kiev yesterday, meeting with “Metropolitan” Epiphany Dumenko, the primate of the OCU, and “Archbishop” Evstraty Zorya, the organization’s speaker, to assure them of the Patriarchate’s love and support for them, reports Romfea.
Met. Emmanuel has a good relationship with the schismatic OCU, with close contact with Epiphany and Evstraty. He was also in Kiev in May to celebrate the 19th anniversary of the restoration of St. Michael’s Golden-domed Cathedral, when they all concelebrated with a cleric of the schismatic “Montenegrin Orthodox Church” together. Evstraty Zorya was later dispatched by Constantinople to apologize to the Serbian Church, from which the “Montenegrin Church” schismed.
While in Kiev in May, Met. Emmanuel also met with “Patriarch Philaret,” a father figure to both Epiphany and Evstraty in the KP to whom they owe their ecclesiastical careers, which proved to be an unsuccessful attempt to reign in the schismatic tendencies that have driven his activity for the past three decades. Philaret relaunched his KP on June 20, officially breaking from the OCU and renouncing the tomos of autocephaly from Constantinople.
While the OCU remains unrecognized by any Local Church but the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Met. Emmanuel expressed the belief to Epiphany and Evstraty that all the OCU’s problems will be solved very soon, as occurred with other Local Churches that received autocephaly from the Patriarchate, having been previously under its jurisdiction.
Though the entire Orthodox world has recognized the Kiev Metropolis as the canonical territory of the Moscow Patriarchate for more than 300 years, the Patriarchate of Constantinople has been pushing the theory since last summer that the Metropolis was never truly transferred to the Russian Church. Constantinople also granted autocephaly to the Polish Church in 1924, which was part of the Russian Church at the time, under the same false pretext.
Though the firm stance of the Polish and Serbian Churches against the schismatic OCU, and the firm stance of the majority of the Local Orthodox Churches that a pan-Orthodox council must be called to resolve the Ukrainian situation make it unlikely that all of the OCU’s problems will soon be solved, it would not be a surprise if they received support from the Greek Orthodox Church next month, when its Council of Bishops meets. It is expected that the hierarchs will deal with the Ukrainian issue, and though it is not clear what decision they will make, there are a number of hierarchs who support Constantinople’s right to grant autocephaly to whomever, wherever.
Further, Met. Emmanuel assured them that the other Local Churches remember that they came from Constantinople and they maintain a free, loving relationship with the “Mother Church”:
Every Church that has received the Tomos of Autocephaly from the Mother Church of Constantinople has its history and problems. However, they all have memory and true common belief and, thus, they do not forget that they were part of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. This spiritual relationship with the Mother Church remains unbroken and is loving for Jesus Christ, not a dependency or oppression.
While it is true that all the Local Churches maintain respect for Constantinople, it is also true that Patriarch Bartholomew’s reign has been marked by serious tensions with several Local Churches, including those of Greece, Jerusalem, and the Czech Lands and Slovakia, including broken communion and threats of removing tomoses of autocephaly. Pat. Bartholomew also established a parallel jurisdiction in Estonia, which led to a 3-month break in communion with the Russian Church in 1996.
The OCU will ultimately go down favorably in Church history, Met. Emmanuel assured them, noting that all the Local Churches are praying for peace in Ukraine “and act in accordance with the will of Christ and not the interests of the powerful.”
Met. Emmanuel also conveyed the good wishes of Patriarch Bartholomew and thanked Evstraty Zorya for his recent visit to France, where he served in Met. Emmanuel’s cathedral and attended an anti-hate crime forum. Constantinople’s choice to invite Zorya is nothing short of a slap in the face to the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church under His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine given that the OCU regularly persecutes and commits acts of violence and thievery against the canonical Church.
