The Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia [ROCOR] has condemned the move by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I to appoint ‘exarchs’ of the Church of Constantinople to Ukraine as part of preparations for granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The move followed blunt interference in the life of the Ukrainian Orthodox Community by Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko and the Verkhovna Rada national parliament that advocate the strivings and claims of non-canonical religious associations claiming the status of ‘Orthodox churches’.
“Standing before God in prayerful solidarity with our long-suffering brethren of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, headed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine, who, being revered and respected throughout the whole of the Orthodox world, is primate of the only recognised canonical Orthodox Church of Christ in Ukraine, we, the members of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, which carries out its ministry in the lands of North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and other nations of the West, ministering to numerous emigres from the lands of historic Russia and their descendants, express our profound indignation at the blatant violation of the Holy Canons by the Orthodox Church of Constantinople,” said the statement ROCOR published at its official homepage.
ROCOR described the decision of the Constantinople hierarchy “[…] to send its ‘exarchs’ into the canonical territory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, without the agreement and permission of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine” as a gross and unprecedented incursion by one Local Church into a distant canonical territory, which has its own Local Church that is alone responsible for the Orthodox flock of that country.
The Synod said the action taken by His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew and his fellow archpastors, was threatening the unity of Holy Orthodoxy.
“In light of these developments, we call upon the clergy and flock of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, together with the other Local Orthodox Churches, to redouble their holy and ardent prayers for peace in Ukraine, and unfailingly to oppose the evil presently befalling our persecuted brothers and sisters, the children of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” the statement indicated.
“May the Great and Supreme Head of the Church, the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ, grant strength to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry and to the Episcopacy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which all those who have departed should repentantly and in appropriate manner approach for canonical reception into the Orthodox Church,” members of the ROCOR Synod said.
They invoked the Lord to grant Metropolitan Onuphry, “[…] together with his clergy and flock, long-suffering patience, a multitude of His mercies, blessings, and consolation in the tribulation that now befalls the faithful of Christ in the land of Ukraine.”
On September 7, the secretariat of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Church of Constantinople published a communique reporting the appointment of Bishop Daniel of Pamphilon and Bishop Ilarion of Edmonton as exarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarch to Ukraine as a step towards preparations for granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
At present, Ukraine is part of the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church recognized by the global community of Eastern Orthodox Christian Churches reports to Moscow Patriarchate.
The Holy Synod of the Russian Church issued a protest on Saturday saying Constantinople’s decision was driving relations between the two Patriarchates into an impasse.
“These steps drive the relationship between the Russian Church and the Church of Constantinople into a deadlock and pose a tangible threat to the unity of the global Orthodox Christian community,” the statement said. “The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church has the power to state that Patriarch Bartholomew and the bishops of the Church of Constantinople supporting these anti-canonical steps will bear the full brunt of responsibility for them.”
“To justify its interference in the affairs of another local [national] Church, the Constantinople Patriarchate cites false interpretations of historical facts and the exclusive powers, which is allegedly has but which it has never had in reality,” the Synod said. It promised retaliatory actions on the party of Moscow Patriarchate shortly.
ROCOR emerged in the early 1920 as an Orthodox Christian organization that united the majority of clerics, who had fled Russia after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 and the ensuing Civil War.
On May 7, 2007, officials of ROCOR and Moscow Patriarchate signed the Act on Reunification.