Схиархим. Гавриил (Бунге): Я молюсь, чтобы новый президент Украины дистанцировался от церковных вопросов

Siarchim Gabriel (Bunge): I pray that the new president of Ukraine would distance himself from church issues About the true causes of the split in world Orthodoxy, the true choice of the Ukrainian people, the new president, the full churches and the independent Church - schechiarchimandrite Gabriel (Bunge), an outstanding Swiss theologian and patrologist in an interview for Orthodox Life. - The reasons for the split - in the spiritual plane. Behind such divisions, splits always stand various human passions. And it is obvious. The passion that “inspired” some heads of the Church, and in particular the ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, to this step, above all, is a thirst for power, lust for power. I would call it a joke "apostolic passion." Apostles James and John, not knowing what they were asking for, wanted to sit on the right and on the left hand of Christ: “Let us sit down in Your glory, one on the right hand of You, the other on the left hand!”, But the Lord answered them: “ It does not depend on Me, but to whom is prepared by My Father ”(Matt. 20:21). Man does not change. From century to century - the same thing. We assure ourselves that we are doing something for the glory of God, and in fact we are doing it for our own benefit in order to increase our own importance, influence, and come to power. The substrate of all these processes is spiritual. We can talk a lot about historical reasons, facts, brandish documents. But understand: we all read in different ways, each sees his own and treats in his own way. For your benefit. But not all of this is decisive in the end. In my opinion, not the patriarchs, the metropolitan and the bishops, even the clergy should predetermine the fate of the people. This issue should be addressed by the believers themselves. And, as I understand it, they have already decided it. Ukrainian authorities constantly talk about freedom of conscience, freedom of choice, democracy, etc. But the Ukrainian people have already made their choice - to remain in the canonical Church. Absolute majority. We are talking only about believers. So what's the problem? If believers wanted something else, then in 20 years, since Ukraine became independent, they would have shown this desire and realized it. If they wanted to, they would go to the schismatic Church. But this is not. The temples of the canonical church are filled, and the schismatic are empty. In my opinion, this is a very important aspect and the main argument. Both politicians and heads of churches should take this fact into account. I hope that the new president will want to distance himself from church affairs, and not delve into them. And the issue will be resolved quickly. Everything will fall into place: people will again be free to make their choice. The law and the courts will start to work according to the law, impartially examine the appeals and finally state that the transfer of churches to the schismatics is illegal. The state should deal with state affairs: the fight against corruption, the safety of its citizens, and the improvement of people's lives. He should not address church issues. Where there is interference, problems arise. Without the support of the president, the creation of a new divisive organization would not have happened. But I repeat once again that the choice of believers, those who go to church, is important and decisive. And the president should take into account and make this choice. And how many monks live in monasteries! Incidentally, I have never heard of monasteries that would have gone to schism. It is possible to talk for a long time about various aspects that led to the current situation in world Orthodoxy: economic, historical, and dogmatic. But there is no need to talk about it, others have already spoken a lot. Claims of Constantinople are not new. For a hundred years now, Constantinople has been claiming a kind of papacy. We know about historical circumstances that give him reason to believe that he should do this. Constantinople has only a title, but there is no territory, no congregation. Since there is nothing of his own, he tries to conquer more and more new territories for himself, thus recreating himself. Constantinople accuses Moscow of interfering with other Churches, but he constantly intervenes in the Greek Church, for example. Constantinople is trying to penetrate into other churches, to seize them in various ways. Declare that Ukrainian believers want to have an independent church government. But all this was provided by Moscow to the Ukrainian Church for a long time. There are conditional spiritual connections. And what did Constantinople give to the dissenters today? Hardly half of what the UOC has. No one disputes that the Ukrainian people have the right to their church and independent church government. As I understand it, being neither Ukrainian nor Russian, the believing people of Ukraine do not want to cut off ties with the Russian Church, only politicians want this. Believers want to be spiritually, prayerfully with the Church, which has the same history, the same origin. I have Ukrainian friends who want to work in Russian monasteries, because this is not another Church, but a sister Church. Here everything is clear and familiar. And this is not the same thing as going to a Greek monastery. But politicians, especially the outgoing president, want to chop off