ROC hierarch: The more Phanar rises, the deeper sсhism in Orthodoxy gets

Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. Photo: unn.com.ua

The head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate (DECR MP), Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, said in the programme “Church and World” that the schism in world Orthodoxy will deepen as Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople rises more and more to the height of those special rights and privileges which he has acquired for himself.

He noted that the head of the Phanar has recently expressed himself in the spirit that he has certain special prerogatives that we have never known about before, that he received these prerogatives from the apostles, and does not intend to enter into a dialogue about them. “It can be assumed that the schism in world Orthodoxy will deepen as the Patriarch of Constantinople feels more and more isolated, more and more ascending to the height of those special rights and privileges that he has acquired for himself,” said the head of the DECR MP.

Metropolitan Hilarion stated that such views have already led to sad events in Ukraine when unilaterally, against the will of the Local Churches, without consulting them, Patriarch Bartholomew committed an anti-canonical act that provoked a split in the Orthodox world.

As reported, the ROC did not rule out a church schism in Belarus according to the “Ukrainian scenario”.

Read also