Primate: Schism of 1054 and present division of Churches have common ground

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry. Photo: news.church.ua

The break of Eucharistic communion in 1054 and the breakdown of communion between the Constantinople and Russian Orthodox Churches have much in common, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine noted in an interview with the “Pastor and Flock” magazine.

According to the Primate, the schism of 1054 brewed for a long time and was provoked by an administrative and political division, which reflected the already existing spiritual division between parts of the Church.

What happened in 2019 also has its own background. The reason for the current division is that some liberal-minded representatives of the Phanar "have repeatedly tried to justify and accept those laws that do not agree with the Holy Gospel, which the secular world is actively trying to introduce into our life today," said His Beatitude.

“This spiritual relaxation of Constantinople regarding the preservation of the purity of the holy Orthodox faith was the root cause of the schism that occurred in 2019,” he said.

The Primate pointed to the Phanar's desire to give "not only Caesar's things to Caesar but also God's things". An attempt of such actions caused the fall of Constantinople.

“And today the Constantinople spiritual authorities are ready to accept all the customs and laws forbidden by God that the world offers just to regain Constantinople (present Istanbul) in its former glory, and the power in the Church that they had during the heyday of the Byzantine Empire,” resumed the Archpastor.

As reported earlier, Metropolitan Mark of Berlin said that the current schism risks becoming more serious than the schism of 1054.

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