ROC Synod evaluates the recognition of OCU by Alexandrian Patriarchate

The session of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on December 26, 2019. Photo: stavropol-eparhia.ru

On December 26, 2019, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church assessed the recognition of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU – Ed.) by the Patriarchate of Alexandria, said Vladimir Legoyda, Chairman of the Synodal Department for the Relations of the Church with the Society and the Media of the Russian Orthodox Church on his Telegram channel.

The Primate of the UOC, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, also attended the meeting of the Holy Synod, according to the official website of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The members of the ROC Synod resolved:

1. To express the deep sorrow due to the anti-canonical actions of Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria, who entered into communion with schismatics.

2. To emphasize that the decision of Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria to recognize Ukrainian schismatics contradicts the repeated statements of His Beatitude in support of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its Primate, Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, including the one made during his last visit to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on September 27 - October 1, 2018, three weeks after the invasion of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to Ukraine through the appointment of its "exarchs" in Kiev.

3. To note that the decision to recognize the breakaway structure in Ukraine was not made at a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Alexandrian Patriarchate on October 7-9, was not voted by its hierarchs and, accordingly, did not have a conciliar character but was adopted by the Primate of this Church alone.

4. To confirm the impossibility of liturgical mention of the name of Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria in diptychs, as well as of prayer and Eucharistic communion with him.

5. To maintain church communion with the hierarchs of the Alexandrian Orthodox Church, except for those who supported or will subsequently support the legalization of the Ukrainian schism.

6. To suspend the activities of the Representative Office (metochion) of the Alexandrian Patriarchate to the Moscow Patriarchal Throne.

7. To transform the Representation of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus within the Patriarchate of Alexandria into the parish of the Russian Orthodox Church in Cairo.

8. To withdraw from the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Alexandria the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church located on the African continent, granting them stauropegic status.

Recall, on November 8, 2019, the OCU spokesman Eustraty Zoria announced that the Patriarchate of Alexandria officially recognized the new church structure.

On November 12, 2019, Patriarch Theodore commemorated the head of the OCU Epiphany Dumenko at the liturgy and later sent him a letter in which he admired Epiphany's sacrificial heart.

On November 29, 2019, the head of the Patriarchate of Alexandria wished the Ukrainian schismatics prosperity and called the head of the OCU “a modest man”.

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