Legoyda: ROC does everything to maintain unity of Orthodoxy in love

Chairman of the ROC Synodal Department for the Relations of the Church with Society and the Media Vladimir Legoyda. Photo: YouTube

The Russian Orthodox Church is doing everything possible to maintain the unity of Orthodoxy in love,” explained Vladimir Legoyda, Chairman of the ROC Synodal Department for the Relations of the Church with Society and the Media.

“The Russian Orthodox Church and many other Orthodox Churches are doing everything to ensure that the unity of world Orthodoxy is maintained…. in love and following the canons that the apostles commanded us. And this is the most important thing,” he emphasized during a briefing following an extraordinary session of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.

According to Legoyda, the Bishops’ Council of the Greek Orthodox Church rather ambiguously formulated their decision on the "Ukrainian church issue", and there is still no document signed by the Council participants.

In this regard, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church authorized Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to act in accordance with the possible non-canonical actions of the hierarchs of the Church of Greece, if any follow, explained the head of the ROC Synodal Department for the Relations of the Church with Society and the Media.

“We value centuries-old relations with our Greek brothers, with the Greek Church, we are not going to break these relations in any way, but there are church canons,” he noted. “Church canons are not some abstract rules, but this is something without which there is no Church. If someone recognizes schismatics, as the Patriarch of Constantinople did, then he himself tears the living tissue of the Church, he himself leaves this communion.”

Legoyda also recalled that the ROC has repeatedly raised the issue of the need for a pan-Orthodox discussion of the current religious situation in Ukraine.

“Let's hope that everything will be further developed in accordance with the canons and with the rules of the Holy Church,” he concluded.

We recall that on October 17, 2019, the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church issued an official statement regarding the Church of Greece.

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