A plan has been developed in the United States to deprive the Russian Orthodox Church of the status of the largest Church in the world
Kiev, November 14 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Ryabov) – The statement signed yesterday by two metropolitans of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (MP) in support of independence from the Moscow Patriarchate is a step towards the creation of a unified Ukrainian Church with the Greek Catholics, after which the Russian Orthodox Church will lose its status as the largest in the world.
This was stated by Pavel Gavrilyuk, deacon of the Orthodox Church in America, professor of historical theology, University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA.
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“In order for the Memorandum to bear the fruits of church unity, it is advisable to send a copy of this document to the communities of all Orthodox and Greek Catholic parishes in Ukraine, including Crimea and Donbass. It is also necessary to begin a more intensive and conscious church-wide discussion of the process of creating a single local church in Ukraine, awaiting signals and “blessings” from above, from primates and government authorities. This process should be carried out simultaneously in different directions: at all church services, a litany about “the return and strengthening of the unity of all Orthodox churches in Ukraine” should be included; Conversations should be held with parishioners about the fact that church unity is one of the central truths of the Gospel,” writes Gavrilyuk on the pages of the Ukrainian newspaper Den.
“It is expected that a pan-Orthodox council should be held in Constantinople in the spring of 2016. If the issue of creating a single Local Ukrainian Orthodox Church is not resolved before the council, every effort must be made to ensure that the issue is put up for discussion at the council. If the reunification expected by the majority of believers occurs, then, if the local church and Greek Catholics join the common body, the thus united Ukrainian Orthodox Church will become the largest local church in the world in terms of the number of parishes,” writes the American professor.