Cypriot hierarch: Pat. Bartholomew took a non-canonical decision on OCU

Metropolitan Nikiforos of Kykkos and Tylliria of the Church of Cyprus. Photo: romfea.gr

On November 28, 2019, Metropolitan Nikiforos of Kykkos and Tylliria of the Church of Cyprus in his welcoming speech on the occasion of the opening of the II International Conference “Monasticism and the Modern World” stated that Orthodoxy is undergoing a dangerous and unjustified crisis due to the non-canonical decision of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

The metropolitan claims that Constantinople recognized the OCU and granted the so-called "autocephaly" contrary to the unanimous canonical tradition and church practice, reports “Romfea”.

At the end of his opening remarks, Met. Nikiforos spoke candidly on the ongoing Ukrainian crisis, which is a topic of concern for the entire Orthodox world:

“We are experiencing events today that, unfortunately, resemble the threshold of the Great Schism of 1054, which divided Ecumenical Christianity into Western Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. The schism threatens Ecumenical Orthodoxy after the primates of the churches of Alexandria and Greece joined the Ecumenical Patriarch’s decision.

It is not permissible for anyone, and especially for us Orthodox monks, who are the first defenders of our Church, to remain indifferent to the dramatic situation in which our Orthodoxy has found itself. We all need to translate our passive anxiety into active responsibility. We must prayerfully invoke the mercy of God and the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, so that the primates of the Local Orthodox Churches, with all-embracing love and humble and sacrificial thoughts, will listen to the voice of the Lord, overcome impermissible egoism, obsessions, and mania for power, and begin a fraternal pan-Orthodox dialogue aimed at overcoming the present crisis threatening the unity of Orthodoxy. We must not forget that the sin of schism is incurable and inexcusable.”

In conclusion, Metropolitan Nikiforos said: " Only if the principle of conciliarity, on which the Orthodox Church has always relied, will work, can a way out of today's situation be found."

As reported earlier, the Cypriot metropolitans have repeatedly stated that only following the holy canons, the church problem that has arisen in Ukraine can be solved.

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