Hierarch of Antiochian Church names the main cause of crisis in Orthodoxy

On February 23, 2022, Metropolitan Isaac (Barakat) of Germany and Central Europe of the Antiochian Orthodox Church spoke about what, in his opinion, is the main cause of the crisis in Universal Orthodoxy, the Romfea publication reports.

Commenting on the “confrontation” between the Phanar and the Russian Orthodox Church, Vladyka recalled that there are a sufficient number of reasonable people in the Church “who clearly understand the disease that has struck us and demand that both parties return to the negotiating table to discuss their differences together, in the presence of their brothers and sisters, who bear the same responsibility and experience the same pain for what is happening in Orthodoxy.”

According to Vladyka, the roots of the fact that “we are divided and cannot meet and create a common future for all in the face of the factors, which will inevitably change the world’s demographic map, go back to times long before the Cretan Council.”

Then, as the hierarch of the Church of Antioch recalled, “a situation arose that is relevant to this day: the interruption of Eucharistic communion between the Churches of Antioch and Jerusalem.”

“This problem remained virtually unnoticed, although it was very important to tackle it and find a suitable solution,” so “if it had been solved then, we would not have been facing what we are facing today, whether it be Ukraine or Alexandria,” stressed Met. Isaac.

“Today, more than nine years later, this problem is repeated under different names, and we all read what is happening today between the Alexandrian and Russian Churches, about the possibility of evangelization in Africa and about who has the authority to do this,” the bishop believes.

He is sure that "we should return to the round table and discuss our problems in a fraternal atmosphere until we find a solution."

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that a representative of the Church of Antioch took part in the Kyiv Forum of the UOC.

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