Roveredo, Switzerland, September 18, 2026
Photo: Union of Orthodox Journalists
The revered elder Schema-Archimandrite Gabriel (Bunge) spoke in a recent interview about the schism created by Constantinople in Ukraine, saying that since he knew Patriarch Bartholomew personally, his actions were no surprise to him.
Fr. Gabriel spoke with the German edition of the Union of Orthodox Journalists about the murdered Svyatogorsk Lavra and the sufferings of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and about Patriarch Bartholomew’s role in the creation of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”
Noting that Patriarch Bartholomew previously recognized the canonicity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, Fr. Gabriel says “We all know that Patriarch Bartholomew did not act voluntarily” in creating the schismatic OCU.
“I know from a reliable source that Patriarch Bartholomew said to a Greek ambassador: If the Americans hadn’t exerted such strong pressure on him, he never would have done it—he wouldn’t have split the Church,” Fr. Gabriel shared.
His statement aligns with what has already been publicly acknowledged by OCU bishops and US and Ukrainian authorities.
Fr. Gabriel continues:
Of course, all of that happened with the goal of weakening Russia. The Ukrainian Church was more closely tied to the Moscow Patriarchate back then than it is today. I mean that in the purely institutional sense.
That’s precisely what disappoints me. Even the Archbishop of Athens, Ieronymos, who’s also a worthy man, was put under extraordinarily strong pressure and eventually gave in.
But why didn’t these people, our Church leaders, just put their Panagias down on the table and say: “No, not me. I don’t want to tarnish my good name?”
Schism is an unforgivable sin, Fr. Gabriel highlights:
I personally can’t understand this. That’s why I keep asking myself: Do these people really not realize that they can’t stand up in the court of history?
A bishop or patriarch who has caused a schism in the Church can’t wash it away—regardless of the reasons—not even with his own blood. So say the Holy Fathers. Not even with his own blood.
I find this terrible, horrific. The thought fills me with terror. In Church history, in the chapters that will be dedicated to this era, all of this is already inscribed.
Further, Elder Gabriel notes that because he personally knows Patriarch Bartholomew, he was not particularly surprised by what he did in Ukraine:
If only he had repented… But no. I know Patriarch Bartholomew personally. I met him when he was young, so his actions don’t really surprise me. But all of this is incredibly sad.
“And we know very well how Church history has ultimately judged this or that patriarch, this or that pope,” Fr. Gabriel concludes.
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