The response to Constantinople will arrive from Minsk
More people go to the churches of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) than to the schismatic “Kyiv Patriarchate,” and the situation will continue after the anathema against Filaret is lifted.
Press Secretary of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexander Volkov stated this on the Rossiya-1 TV channel.
“The majority of Ukrainian believers will remain within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. We believe and pray that there will be no blood, and hot heads on both sides will not triumph. Otherwise there will be a triumph of hell and the devil. I would like to believe that the Lord will not bring us to this point,” Volkov said.
He emphasized that yesterday’s decisions of the synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople concern not only Ukrainian, but also the entire world Orthodoxy.
“The actions of Constantinople are looked at by the bishops of all churches, who understand that in the same way, if there is some other political need, similar actions will be taken, for example, in relation to Georgia, Serbia, Bulgaria. That the Patriarchate of Constantinople now has the right to interfere in the actions of all local churches?” Volkov noted.
He is confident that the position of the Russian Orthodox Church and the UOC is supported by all world Orthodoxy with the exception of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. As an example of a principled position, he cited the Antioch, Alexandria and Serbian churches.
“There are local churches that are either silent or express themselves with restraint, but in any case, not a single local church has definitely supported the actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople,” Volkov clarified.
According to him, “obvious and definite” decisions regarding the Patriarchate of Constantinople will be made at a meeting of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in Minsk on October 15.
The response to Constantinople will come from Minsk.