Speech by Bishop of Budimlyansky and Nikshichsky Ioannikia (Serbian Orthodox Church) at the conference "Violation of the Rights of Believers in Ukraine"

Speech by Bishop of Budimlyansky and Nikshichsky Ioannikia (Serbian Orthodox Church) at the conference "Violation of the Rights of Believers in Ukraine" Выступление епископа Будимлянского и Никшичского Иоанникия (Сербская Православная Церковь) на конференции «Нарушение прав верующих на Украине» print version June 5, 2019 11:31 The international conference, organized by the Council for Cooperation with Religious Associations under the President of the Russian Federation, the Interreligious Council of Russia , the Russian Association for the Protection of Religious Freedom and the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society , was held on May 29, 2019 in Moscow. The actions undertaken by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Ukraine to recognize and merge two groups, headed by two dissenters (one of whom is anathematized), and the provision of the created “autocephaly” that was not recognized by any of the other Orthodox Churches, has nothing that would occur in accordance with the holy canons and the generally accepted church procedure regarding the granting of autocephalous status. If at the very beginning serious canonical violations were committed (first of all, there was an invasion of the canonical territory of the Moscow Patriarchate and the self-governing Ukrainian Orthodox Church without their consent and the “repeal” of the Decree of Constantinople Patriarch Dionysius IV dated 1686, by which the Kiev Metropolis was transferred to the Moscow Patriarchate , with the persistent refusal of a dialogue with the Moscow Patriarchate and other Orthodox Churches, who pointed out these violations), and all subsequent actions were and non-canonical. The Russian Orthodox Church promptly thoroughly analyzed the actions of Fanar and gave them an assessment based on the canonical basis, which helped other Orthodox Churches to take the right position on this painful issue. Without going into more detail on the canonical side of this question, we will indicate only a few important details relating to it. The Patriarchate of Constantinople in this case showed its readiness to interpret the age-old ecclesiastical positions in accordance only with its interests, ignoring the inviolable rights of others and the legal logic as a whole. Regarding the repeal of the decision of 1686 to transfer the Kiev Metropolis to the Moscow Patriarchate, we believe that, following this logic, it can also cancel other similar documents that are important for the Churches, including Tomos, given in past centuries to other Local Churches. The right to accept the appeal, which the Constantinople throne used during the Byzantine Empire in its area of ​​jurisdiction, he now wants to extend to the entire Orthodox universe, based on the interpretation of the 9th and 17th canons of the IV Ecumenical Council. This interpretation has no basis in ecclesiastical law and is not accepted by most other churches, nor is a similar interpretation of the 28th canon of the same Council, on the basis of which Constantinople wants the entire Orthodox diaspora to be under its jurisdiction. On this and similar interpretations of the sacred canons, the Constantinople ideologues base their doctrine on the "primacy of power" of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Although indications of this doctrine can be found in the ancient past of the Church of Constantinople, we see that it began to gain momentum quickly at the beginning of the third decade of the 20th century, from the time of Patriarch Meletius (Metaxaxis) up to the current Patriarch Bartholomew. Based on the primacy of the honor of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the diptych of the Orthodox Churches, this ideology went much further, up to the postulation of the thesis that all Orthodox Churches acquire their canonicity only in communion with the throne of Constantinople, that without this Patriarchate there is no Orthodoxy and that the Patriarch of Constantinople is the primate of all the Patriarch of Constantinople. , "The first without equal." When such a new doctrine of the Fanaric ideology on the primacy of the Constantinople throne is also joined by a new doctrine on the special rights of the Mother Church in relation to the Daughter Churches, which it spawned, we can expect even greater problems. Many examples, including events in Ukraine, indicate that this Mother wants not only to retain power over her Daughters, but also to seize some of their temples for her stavropegia, to get all their diaspora, and also to deprive them of the right to independently make worldview and etc. Any ideology, especially the church, always has practical life consequences. As a logical consequence of the attempts at Fanar to belittle the doctrine of Christ as the Head of the Church, divine epithets are assigned to the Patriarch of Constantinople: “The head of the Orthodox body”, without which “all Local Churches will be like sheep without a shepherd”, “the first without equal”, which has the right of judgment last resort over all Orthodox hierarchs in the universe. The ancient predecessors of the Ecumenical Patriarch, who challenged the claims of the Roman bishop over authority over the entire Church, adhered to the New Testament principle that Christ is the Head of the Church, and any attempt to appropriate this primacy is contrary to His teaching. The ideology now proposed differs from the Orthodox ecclesiology and the teaching on the conciliarity of the Church, so it is not surprising that already now, because of it, disorder has arisen in Ukraine, and tomorrow we can expect them in many other places. From the above, it is clear that the interest of the Patriarchate of Constantinople was stronger than any canonical reasons for making a number of decisions, the culmination of which was the unacceptable provision of autocephaly to the schismatics in Ukraine. The justification voiced that it was allegedly made of maternal care and love for the excommunicated brothers, in fact simply covered the material and other interests of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. However, we are convinced that the main cause of this problem lies not in the incorrect application of canons and even in the interests of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, but in the anti-Russian policy of some Western countries. Of course, it is especially difficult for the Church to realize that the Patriarch of Constantinople is on the wave of this policy, under the guise of healing, further deepening the wounds on the body of the Ukrainian Church. The analysts are right that a coup d'état on Maidan, accomplished under the leadership of the Western powers with the full support of splitting organizations and uniates, are directly linked to the recent artificial unification of schismatics and the assignment of autocephalous status to this dubious structure. A political coup was not enough to poison the relations between Ukraine and Russia — for this, a religious coup was also needed, in which the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church would be involved, if possible. Fortunately, it failed. In the project of forming a “new Orthodox church of Ukraine”, the former president of Ukraine P. Poroshenko, with the full support of the West and Patriarch Bartholomew, assumed the regrettable role of a false messiah. He grossly violated the Constitution of his country and, abusing his position, intervened in matters relating exclusively to the church sphere. During his reign, we could see the emergence of a caricature version of Caesarepapism in a pro-European (at least in words) and pro-Nat secular state. Everything that is forbidden and unthinkable in Western democracies, in Ukraine, has received the approval and support of the West, primarily of America. The greatest injustice during the reign of this president was committed against the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, its Primate, the Most Blessed, Metropolitan Onuphrius , her bishops, clergy, and the people of God. In order to persuade them to follow short-term political trends and enter the aforementioned project, force and coercion, seizure of temples, forced conversations in the Security Service of Ukraine, pressure from the media, and the like were used against the canonical Church. Thank God, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was able to withstand pressure and provocations, firmly remaining in canonical positions, maintaining faith and its shrines, nurturing and strengthening the unity of its people, who were entrusted to them by God in the most difficult times. She ascended to her Calvary, remembering the Cross of Christ and His Resurrection. Unfortunately, she also had several of her Judas in the person of two bishops-traitors and a small number of clergy. However, no matter how painful and sad it was, the Church was not weakened by this betrayal — it was simply cleared. When analyzing the church issue in Ukraine, special attention should be paid to ethnophyletism. Generally speaking, this phenomenon is characterized by hatred and intolerance towards other peoples. On the other hand, all ethnophiles fanatically emphasize their own characteristics, both national and religious. Ethnophyletism in one nation subordinates religious feeling to nationality, and in this form, faith, even if it is formally called Orthodox, turns into a nationalist sect. The Orthodox Church of Constantinople was inclined to attribute the heresy of ethnophyletism, primarily to the Slavic Orthodox peoples. Leaving aside the question of whether she was right and to what degree she herself resisted this temptation, let us pay attention to how the Patriarchate of Constantinople reacted to ethnophyletism in Ukraine. A typical example of ethnophyletism is seen in the activities of the schismatic groups of Filaret Denisenko and Macarius Maletich on the territory of modern Ukraine: these groups are distinguished by their hatred for Russia, and this is part of their identity because they were created as anti-Russian associations. In this respect, they are most similar to the Greek Catholics in the West of Ukraine. Western countries used ethnophyletic dissenting groups during the uprising on the Maidan in 2014, and later in the regrettable civil war, which continues to this day. It is worth noting that the explicit ethnophyletism of the splitting groups in Ukraine did not prevent the Constantinople Patriarchate from making a non-canonical decision on their rehabilitation. Moreover, ethnophyletism was only strengthened with the granting of “autocephaly” to these artificially united structures. Coordination between the Western countries and the Patriarchate of Constantinople during the double coup in Ukraine — political and ecclesiastical — is more than obvious. In both cases, Ukrainian pseudo-church ethnophyletism was used as fuel in order to create a politically and spiritually anti-Russian Ukraine once and for all. After the foregoing, one should ask: what is the result of the actions of the Constantinople Patriarchate in Ukraine? As it was possible to assume, nothing was achieved except strengthening the Ukrainian split and the emergence of the danger of further splits at the pan-Orthodox level. In Ukraine, with rare exceptions, all remained in the same place where they were before. However, all Orthodoxy as a whole is aware of and feels that the consequences of the non-canonical actions of the Constantinople Patriarchate can be fatal. They have already manifested themselves everywhere, and especially they are noticeable in the diaspora, where all-Orthodox liturgical meetings are no longer held. The negative consequences of the steps made by the Patriarchate of Constantinople touched Holy Mount Athos, with which all Orthodox Christians, without exception, are spiritually connected. If the Ukrainian schismatics, with the support of the Patriarch of Constantinople, continue to serve on the Holy Mountain, we can expect dangerous schism among the Athonite and deepening the wounds existing on the Body of Christ. Because of the non-canonical, political sphere and the invasion of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Ukraine motivated by earthly interests, its reputation in the Orthodox world has fallen dramatically. They can only blame themselves for this, seeing the reason in their new ecclesiology, in their own interpretation of the canons, in decisions harmful to the whole of Orthodoxy. None of the Orthodox Churches wanted either to jeopardize the reputation of the Church of Constantinople, to challenge her honor, or to deprive her head of first status among equals and other privileges that flow from this; but at the same time, these honors cannot be extended without a limit. Today, the position of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is as difficult as the position of the ancient Kyivan metropolis in the 16th-17th centuries, before joining the Moscow Patriarchate in 1686. And in some ways, it may be more difficult, because the then Kyivan metropolis was under pressure from Uniatism and the Polish-Lithuanian authorities, and today, the Uniates, schismatics, some of the Ukrainian authorities are fighting at the same time, and the Patriarchate of Constantinople is inclined to put questioned her position, name and canonical status. The authorities of Ukraine also tried to forcibly change the name of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but, thank God, at the moment it failed. The recent decisions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, before and after the proclamation of the so-called "PTSU", prompted the schismatic groups to seize the temples of the canonical Church with the support of the authorities and to expel the clergy and believers from them. Some priests were led to invitations of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and left the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, joining the schismatics. At the same time, loyalty to the canonical order, prayer and devotion to the will of God united and strengthened from within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, made it able to withstand various trials and pressures from different sides. The pious Ukrainian people now have the opportunity to see where the true faith and patience of the saints is (Rev. 14:12). Ukrainian bishops, led by the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine Onufriy, are faithful pastors for all Orthodox, regardless of party affiliation or nationality. Preserving the values ​​of Ancient Russia, Kiev, which is the Mother of Russian cities, this Church protects its roots, showing that it does not want to change the history during which it formed a brilliant culture, increased literacy and spirituality in people, created beautiful shrines, gave birth to many saints, confessors and martyrs. Keeping the liturgical and canonical unity with the Moscow Patriarchate as its autonomous part, it simultaneously expresses the peculiarities of the Ukrainian people. Keeping its identity, it is also an integral part of the "Russian World". She overcame all types of ethnophyletism: Ukrainians, Russians, and a great number of those who have a multi-layered Russian-Ukrainian identity, as well as representatives of other nations who want to remain in the canonical Church and in unity with all Orthodox are saved. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church accepts both its beloved children and the pro-Russian and pro-Western residents of the vast Ukrainian land, building the spiritual unity of all in the house of God, where there is neither Jew, nor Hellenes, nor Ukrainians, Russians, Poles or Lithuanians, but we are all God's people , New Israel, redeemed by the Most Pure Blood of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ.