UOC cleric: Phanar created an ideological ground for Belarus “autocephaly”

Priest Igor Shumak. Photo: screenshot/YouTube/The First Cossack

The Patriarchate of Constantinople has created a ground for Belarus on which someone will surely try to grow a new "autocephalous" church structure, says priest Igor Shumak, a priest of the UOC church in honor of the holy martyrs Hadrian and Natalia in the Lisovy residential area in Kyiv. The priest said this in the "Right to Faith" program on the air of the "First Cossack".

Answering the question whether there is a basis for the creation of an "autocephalous church" in Belarus today, which, in particular, the OCU called for in the day before, the priest noted that "ideologically, this matrix has already been created."

"By its decision, the Ecumenical Patriarch revoked the charter on the transfer of the Metropolis in the 17th century to the Moscow Patriarchate, and the lands of this Metropolis include the Belarusian ones," he explained. "So now, in fact, here's your ideology, here's your solution – just act."

According to the priest, in this situation "there will probably be someone who will decide to act."

"Even if it is a marginal group of people, there is still ground on which they can grow a new organization," the priest added.

However, he believes, there are no such forces in Belarus now.

"No matter how much our ‘reformers’ of the Church, who appeared as organizers of the creation of the OCU, try to awaken the Belarusian clergy now in order to somehow turn towards independence, there is actually no single leading force in Belarus, able to organize themselves, organize the flock and advocate the creation of a new structure," said priest Igor Shumak.

As the UOJ reported, earlier the head of the OCU Epiphany called on Belarusians to ask Phanar for their Tomos, while the spokesman of the OCU Eustraty Zoria stated that autocephaly should become one of the main goals of the protesters in Belarus.

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