Kiev, November 8, 2021
Photo: spzh.news
Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople lives in a fantasy world, where he actually solved the Ukrainian crisis by giving the “tomos of autocephaly” to the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”
“In fact, the head of Phanar not only failed to solve even a minimal fraction of problems, but also caused new ones. Moreover, he caused them for almost all Local Churches, including the Patriarchate of Constantinople,” His Grace Bishop Viktor of Baryshevka of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church comments in a new interview with the Greek outlet news-poitics.com.
Pat. Bartholomew simply chooses not to see that there are serious problems in Ukraine, including the person and actions of “Patriarch” Philaret Denisenko, as Bp. Viktor points out, who soon after the creation of the OCU left to relaunch his “Kiev Patriarchate.” While Constantinople’s OCU continues to consider him their “Honorary Patriarch,” they refuse to recognize the many hierarchical consecrations he has performed.
“And the most interesting thing is that the representatives of the OCU either don’t understand or pretend that they don’t understand that in the same way a few decades ago no Church recognized Philaret’s ‘ordinations,’ which were performed in relation to those who are now ‘Bishops’ of the OCU.”
As OrthoChristian has reported and commented several times, the OCU now has the same problem with Philaret that the canonical Ukrainian Church had with him 30 years ago, but it has backed itself into a corner and is unable to deal with the problem effectively, proclaiming that it won’t excommunicate him because that would be too much like the Moscow Patriarchate.
Because Constantinople and the OCU insist that Philaret’s departure into schism from the Ukrainian Church was canonically valid, the OCU cannot consider him a schismatic now for doing the same thing. Most recently, Philaret’s KP received an entire diocese of a Greek Old Calendarist group into its ranks.
Thus, a bishop recognized as fully canonical by Constantinople and the OCU has set up a parallel jurisdiction in Greece.
Moreover, why has Constantinople never addressed this issue at all, Bishop Viktor wonders. The “Phanar has created a problem for itself and doesn’t even try to resolve it.”
And how can Pat. Bartholomew not see the violence that his group commits against the Orthodox faithful in Ukraine, Bp. Viktor continues. Either he doesn’t want to see the truth, or he knows only what is shown, “that is, he lives with a distorted perception of reality,” the hierarch continues.
This is underlined by the fact that Pat. Bartholomew intentionally avoided meeting with or talking to any of the Ukrainian faithful during his recent visit to the country, His Grace notes.
“So if the Patriarch were a person who cares about the well-being of the Church, he would definitely have met with the Orthodox Christians of our country… But he didn’t want to…” Bp. Viktor laments.
Unfortunately, it seems dialogue with Pat. Bartholomew is impossible at this point, the Ukrainian hierarch notes, as clearly evidenced by the Patriarch’s recent statement that he simply doesn’t care that his actions have led to a breakdown in relations with the Russian Church [Pat. Bartholomew’s statement was, in fact, much stronger and more vulgar than “I couldn’t care less”—OC].
Such language can only be used by people who have lost respect and authority and who know they have lost, Bp. Viktor explains. “But he will never acknowledge it. We want a dialogue with him, but he wants no dialogue with us, unfortunately.”
Pat. Bartholomew just thinks every Ukrainian should be grateful to him that the Patriarchate Christianized Rus’ 1,000 years ago, and thus the Ukrainian bishops “should be silent despite the Phanar’s iniquity,” and all this points to the fact that the Patriarch is stubborn and unwilling to admit his mistake, Bp. Viktor emphasized.
It would be good if the Patriarch were as concerned about people as he is the environment, and as interested in dialogue with his fellow Orthodox Christians as he is with the Catholics, His Grace states in conclusion.
“Otherwise he could go down in history not as the ‘Green Patriarch’ but as the man who tore the robe of Christ.”
***
For a thorough examination of the Ukrainian crisis from a canonical point of view, see The Ecclesial Crisis in Ukraine and its Solution According to the Sacred Canons by His Eminence Metropolitan Nikiforos of Kykkos of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!
