IAO President: Phanar-launched process could cause massive schisms

President of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy Sergey Gavrilov. Photo: RIA

President of the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO) Sergey Gavrilov fears that the process launched by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople in Ukraine may cause massive schisms of Orthodox Churches around the world, 'RIA Novosti" reports.

“I think that he (Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople – Ed.) has papist ambitions,” Gavrilov said in an interview with reporters. “It is clear that they are not dogmatic. But I think that the danger is that the principle of dominoes is launched, a massive schism of the Orthodox Churches will begin. In each country, there will be two, three, four and so on.”

In his opinion, such a threat exists not only in Northern Macedonia and Montenegro.

“There are many applicants,” Gavrilov explained. “The Church of Alexandria must well understand that if the Church begins to multiply in African countries, and they are tempted to sort it out among themselves, including through these institutions, it will be terrible and erroneous.”

He emphasized that in order not to destroy the very integrity of the world, "we must return to the canonical dialogue based on equal rights".

“It is clear that foreign American colleagues actively participated in the events in Ukraine, there is a lot of evidence to that. And those who began this schism had in mind not only the creation of a Church in Phanar; they had in mind to break off relations between peoples, not only between the Churches,” he said, adding that it’s important now to prevent such a development of events that could lead to global conflict.

“The head of the Patriarchate of Alexandria was boldly pointed out to the obvious that, while supporting a schism in Ukraine, he himself may turn out to be the head of the Church, where the same processes will take place – after all, the very idea that an independent Church should be established in an independent country has been launched. And if so, then it would be better for him to immediately decide in advance whether he will be the Patriarch of Egypt or some other country,” Orthodox blogger Alexander Voznesensky commented on the statement of the IAO President.

We recall that at a meeting of the IAO Secretariat, which was held in Athens on November 14, Sergei Gavrilov called the radical attacks on the UOC a manifestation of terrorism.

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