Archimandrite of Phanar assures there will be no new exarchate in Ukraine

Archimandrite Romanos Anastasiadis. Photo: ageliaforos.com

Archimandrite Romanos of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, has said that Patriarch Bartholomew does not intend to create an exarchate of the Phanar in Ukraine, as it contradicts the logic and the Tomos of the OCU, reports the Ukraina Pravoslavna resource.

He called those who talk about such an initiative of the Patriarchate of Constantinople either provocateurs or naive.

"Voluntary transfers of parishes, clergy and believers from the jurisdiction of Metropolitan Onuphry in Kyiv, whose canonical status is uncertain, to the unified canonical Orthodox Church of Ukraine continue unhindered and without stopping. In this reality, those who are trying to muddy the waters and consciences of the Ukrainian faithful with supposedly "peace-loving" initiatives are at least naive (if not conscious provocateurs and subversives of both the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine) who begin with comments and criticisms that deny the work of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, question the validity of the Tomos of autocephaly, and hint at... a repeat of what preceded the 2018 Unification Council. This has never happened in the history of the Church and it cannot happen now either," Anastasiadis said.

In his opinion, there are no alternatives to joining the OCU in Ukraine.

"The Tomos was granted with due procedure and validity. The Tomos created a single canonical ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the entire internationally recognised territory of the Ukrainian state. Those who desire canonicity should accept the Tomos of the Mother Church and join the Orthodox Church of Ukraine under the leadership of His Beatitude Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, canonically and for life elected at the Unification Council on 15 December 2018. No other ecclesiastical jurisdiction can exist in Ukraine. And even if it exists temporarily and de facto, it cannot be recognised canonically and conciliarly, and it cannot be granted the status of a parallel canonical church jurisdiction in any way," he said.

He accused the UOC of not participating in the 2018 Unification Council, and noted that, in his opinion, the head of the Patriarchate of Constantinople should have defrocked the hierarchs of the UOC. Also, Archimandrite Romanos said that independence from the Russian Orthodox Church makes the UOC schismatic:

"Since this separation from Moscow was done illegally and arbitrarily, outside any canonical ecclesiastical framework. Unless – as I personally believe – they deceive and mislead everyone, first of all the Ukrainian people, who suffered greatly from the barbaric Russian invaders. They should explain to us whether they are schismatics or traitors after all," the archimandrite concluded.

As reported by the UOJ, he head of the international human rights company Amsterdam & Partners LLP, Robert Amsterdam, addressed the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with an emergency communication regarding the campaign against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and plans to ban the UOC in the 20th of August and then join it to the OCU through the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

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