Met. Hilarion: The project of autocephaly in Ukraine failed in many ways

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk (Alfeyev)

The attempt of Constantinople to impose its decision on the Local Orthodox Churches failed completely, as evidenced by the refusal of the Local Churches to recognize the lawlessness caused by the Phanar in Ukraine. The chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s  Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk said on the program “Church and World”.

“Now there is a certain "Orthodox Church of Ukraine" on paper signed by Constantinople, but the majority of Orthodox believers in Ukraine, despite the persecution, continue to go to the canonical Church, headed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry, under pressure from the Ukrainian government, said the metropolitan. “And the Local Orthodox Churches support precisely this Church.”

The fact that so far no Local Church has recognized the OCU, and the majority of Orthodox believers in Ukraine have not joined the “legalized schismatic group”, testifies, according to the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church, about the failure of the project of Ukrainian autocephaly.

“Several Churches have openly opposed the decision of Constantinople,” the head of the MP DECR recalled. “The Antiochian, Serbian, Polish, and recently the Cypriot Orthodox Churches have expressed their position. There are Churches that have not made any statements yet, but they did not send their representatives to the "enthronement" of the schismatics, did not congratulate him on his election – this in itself testifies to the fact that they do not recognize the committed lawlessness."

At the same time, according to the ROC representative, Constantinople is unlikely to play back - “too much steam was blown off on this occasion, there was a lot of rhetoric related to the special rights supposedly held by Constantinople”.

Earlier, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk (Alfeyev) explained that the new ecclesiological model, which the Patriarchate of Constantinople has been trying to implement over the last century, does not correspond to Orthodox teaching.

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