Moscow Orthodox patriarchate
breaks ties with Constantinople
September
17, 2018
The
Russian Orthodox Church has announced a suspension of ties with the
Patriarchate of Constantinople, in response to the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s
decision to recognize an autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
In a
lengthy statement tracing its history, the Moscow Patriarchate insisted that
the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox communities have “constituted a whole for
centuries.” Therefore, the statement continues, the action by the
Constantinople patriarchate is a “flagrant violation of the ecclesiastical law
and an intervention of one local Church in the territory of the other.”
The
statement from Moscow, issued by the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church,
rejects the claim of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to authority over other
Orthodox churches. The statement charges that Constantinople has frequently
interfered with the Orthodox communities of eastern Europe, to the detriment of
the Moscow patriarchate.
As a
result of the latest decision by Constantinople, the statement from the Russian
Orthodox Church says, “the Moscow patriarchate has been forced to suspend the
liturgical prayerful commemoration of the Patriarch of Constantinople and with
profound regret to suspend the concelebration with hierarchs of the
Patriarchate of Constantinople.” The statement also indicates that the Russian
Orthodox Church will withdraw from theological commissions and other
pan-Orthodox bodies that are chaired by the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
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