Limassol, Cyprus, August 2, 2021
Photo: pravoslavie.ru
Everything connected with the so-called tomos of autocephaly given to the Ukrainian schismatcs by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople has no connection to God, believes His Eminence Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus.
The Cypriot hierarch has shown himself a staunch of defender of Orthodoxy in Ukraine ever since the Patriarchate of Constantinople announced in 2018 its plans to seize Ukrainian Church territory from the faithful Ukrainians themselves and to create a new schismatic “church” focused on nationalism and enmity against their fellow Ukrainians.
After Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus followed Pat. Bartholomew’s lead and struck out on his own to recognize the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” without the backing of the Holy Synod, Met. Athanasios was among those who refused to approve of this un-Orthodox decision and has refrained from concelebrating with Abp. Chrysostomos since then. Along with several others, he has endured slander and increasingly-shrill threats from the Archbishop for his principled stand.
Addressing the Ukrainian situation again on the occasion of the 1,033rd anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’ on the YouTube channel First Independent over the weekend, His Eminence stressed that the canonical Ukrainian Church should receive its present troubles as joy, because the Church continues to exist despite the hardships, which indicates that God is with the Church:
Thank God, it brings us joy that the Church lives in times of persecution. When the Church lives during persecution, it’s a confirmation that God is with us, that he helps our Church.
Our prayers and our love are always present in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and our concern for the people is to ensure that people remain in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. We believe that the UOC is represented by Metropolitan Onuphry and we should not look at grief and worries, but we should look at the testimonies that testify to faith in the Orthodox Church. This testimony helps to overcome all temptations that arise in the Church. We must believe that the gloomy clouds will pass and Christ will exalt our Church and overcome all the troubles that exist now in Ukraine.
Met. Athanasios also emphasized that nationalism is condemned in the Church, because the Church is above all peoples and nations. “The Church is Christ. Christ must be in the heart of every person. We must honor history, but first of all, we must honor Christ,” he said.
Conversely, the situation with the tomos brings no joy, the Cypriot hierarch lamented:
This does not bring us joy. I’ve had a negative attitude towards it from the very beginning. I’m very sorry about what is happening now in Ukraine. We must understand that this will pass over time. But what is connected with the tomos and autocephaly is not connected with God. And in the end, it will pass. God will fix everything and it will return to its place. we must understand that there are Church canons and non-canonical bishops cannot be recognized as canonical. We have not seen the judgment of non-canonical metropolitans, but we know for sure that the canonical metropolitan is Onuphry. He whom we recognized before, we recognize now.
I believe that there were wrong actions on the part of another Church. We must believe that God will fix everything, that the canons are foremost, and one day everything will be fine.
“It’s just a given that we must be loyal to [Met. Onuphry],” Met. Athanasios said.
In previous interviews, he has also expressed his admiration for Met. Onuphry, who is handling the Ukraine crisis with humility, dignity, and prayer.
His Eminence Metropolitan Nikiforos of Kykkos, another Cypriot hierarch who stands for Orthodoxy together with Met. Athanasios, has published a study of the Ukrainian crisis, demonstrating that Pat. Bartholomew acted against the canons when he invaded Ukrainian Church territory.
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