Cypriot hierarchs – Phanar: We do not agree with your assessment of OCU

Cypriot metropolitans who disagreed with the recognition of the OCU. Photo: romfea.gr

On November 4, 2020, Metropolitans Nikiforos of Kykkos, Athanasios of Limassol, Isaiah of Tamassos and Bishop Nicholas of Amathountos of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus wrote an open letter to Patriarch Bartholomew, in which they expressed disagreement with his position regarding the OCU and also responded to the accusations against them, reports Romfea.

The four Archbishops expressed their sorrow over the Ecumenical Patriarch's words that their alleged "disagreement with the decision of the Primate of the Church of Cyprus regarding the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church reveals not sensitivity to the ecclesiological, canonical order and unity of Orthodoxy but rather indifference to it for other purposes."

Thus, they ask the Patriarch: “Do we, after all, have the right, as members of the Holy Synod of the autocephalous Church of Cyprus, to freely and fearlessly express our views, even if they differ from the views of our other brothers?”

Is it acceptable and in accordance with the synodal system of the Church that hierarchs should be insulted with profanity and offensive expressions if they have a different opinion than their primate, they also ask.

And further: “Is it right that the Holy Synod makes a completely unanimous decision on a serious issue and the primate ignores and cancels the decision of the entire Holy Synod and proceeds in a completely different way?”

What happened to the 34th Canon of the Holy Apostles, they ask, which stipulates that a primate must act with his Synod and the Synod with its primate, “for so there will be unanimity, and God will be glorified through the Lord in the Holy Spirit.”

Regarding the accusation that the hierarchs have other loyalties that undermine their role as hierarchs, they write: “We believe that our presence and service in the Most Holy Church so far testify to the quality of our entire ministry and to the integrity of our morals.”

And to the Patriarch’s statement that “Ukrainian autocephaly is a finalized ecclesiastical event” and that “the only ecclesiologically consistent attitude” is for all Orthodox primates to recognize it, the hierarchs respond that they cannot agree, as not a single primate was present at the enthronement of Epiphany Dumenko as primate of the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” and that only two Churches have since recognized the OCU.

Moreover, the recognition of Epiphany Dumenko by Abp. Chrysostomos was an “arbitrary and illegal act,” the hierarchs write.

Further, they remind Pat. Bartholomew that to be Ecumenical Patriarch is to be “First Among Equals” (primus inter pares). “This primacy is not a ‘primacy of power,’ but a ‘primacy of responsibility and service’ for the unity of Orthodoxy, and for the correctness of faith and love,” they state.

Finally, the hierarchs remind the Patriarch that “the Ecumenical Patriarch is and always should be the eternal guardian and guarantor of both the canonical order and the true functioning of the Orthodox synodal and hierarchical system. Its special task is to coordinate the Orthodox Churches on critical issues of inter-Orthodox interest.”

As reported earlier, Patriarch Bartholomew is confident that the autocephaly of the OCU is a finalized church event, and its recognition is a contribution to the unity of Orthodoxy.

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