“Unpleasant news for Moscow”: the second-ranking Orthodox Church of the world recognized Epiphanius
Today, November 8, Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa Theodore II, during a liturgy in a church in the capital of Egypt, commemorated the name of the head of the OCU, Metropolitan Epiphanius, as “the primate of the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
About it posted on Facebook representative of the OCU, Archbishop Evstratiy (Zorya).
“Reliability has been confirmed from two informed sources. An official announcement is expected later,” he said.
Greek Orthodox publications Orthodoxia and Romfea confirmed this news.
Zorya published a photocopy of the official message of the Main Secretariat of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa, in which the Patriarchate of Alexandria notified about the “recognition of the Patriarchal and Synodal Tomos of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church and the inclusion of the name of the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, His Beatitude Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kyiv and All Ukraine in the Diptych for commemoration” .
After the service, at which the name of Epiphany was read out among the primates of the Local Churches, Patriarch Theodore gave a comment in which he called this “an important event in the church”: “From today, our patriarchate has included in the diptych the “autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine” and His Beatitude Metropolitan Epiphany. From now on, Cyrus Epiphanius will be commemorated in the churches of the Alexandrian Patriarchate.”
Thus, the Patriarchate of Alexandria joined the number of churches recognizing the autocephaly of the OCU. As is known, the Church of Alexandria has second place in the diptychs after the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Today, the OCU is officially recognized by three local Churches: Constantinople, Greece and Alexandria. At the same time, on October 31, the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church refused to recognize the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Patriarch Bartholomew was also condemned for the tomos for the OCU by certain hierarchs of the Serbian Church.
The OCU was created at a council in St. Sophia of Kyiv on December 15, 2018, and Metropolitan Epiphanius was elected its head. The tomos confirming autocephaly was presented to Epiphanius by Patriarch Bartholomew in Constantinople on January 6, 2019. Later, the founder of the unrecognized UOC-KP Filaret condemned the council on December 15 and refused to recognize its results.
The official position of the Russian Orthodox Church is the non-recognition of the unilateral declaration of autocephaly by the OCU. The Russian Orthodox Church broke off communication with Patriarch Bartholomew and the hierarchs of the Greek Church, which recognized the OCU.
Commenting on the recognition of the OCU by the Patriarch of Alexandria, the Russian conservative Orthodox publicist, Archpriest All-European Church Chaplin writes in his telegram channel:
” 1. The schism of world Orthodoxy is a fait accompli. As sad as it is to say this, the truth must be faced. The theses “about the threat of a global schism” and “the unity of the Orthodox world” have finally lost their relevance.
2. We must accept and come to terms with the idea that the division of world Orthodoxy can be very, very long.
3. In the current conditions, what comes to the fore is the course not of maintaining “unity” with schismatics and avoiding isolation from them, but of preserving the foundations of our faith and our Church as a bulwark against the distortion of Orthodoxy.
4. It is extremely important for the Russian Orthodox Church to formulate and publicly announce its vision of what is happening. In this context, it would be advisable to quickly hold a Local Council, based on the results of which to present your assessment of the heresy of “papism” of Constantinople and its anti-canonical actions, which led world Orthodoxy to a repetition of 1054.”
Russian political scientist Alexey Makarkin in his telegram channel comments on the political consequences of the recognition of the OCU by the Church of Alexandria.
“This is very unpleasant news for Moscow. Firstly, the Alexandria Church is the second in rank in the community of Orthodox churches after Constantinople. Secondly, this is one of the oldest churches, older than Constantinople - it is believed that its first head was the Evangelist Mark. Thirdly, in contrast to the historically difficult relations with Patriarch Bartholomew, Moscow had good relations with the Alexandrian Patriarch Theodore. Only last September, Patriarch Theodore visited Odessa (for which he has nostalgic feelings, since he served there in the second half of the 1980s as rector of the Alexandrian metochion). Then he stated that “in Ukraine there is a canonical Church, which is headed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine - a blessed man from God and a true monk.” Now Theodore recognized the alternative church, whose autocephaly was granted by Constantinople.”
According to Alexei Makarkin, the decision of the Patriarchate of Alexandria may be associated not only with the influence of Patriarch Bartholomew, who appealed to the solidarity of the Greek churches, but also with the failure of the attempt at mediation by the Church of Cyprus between Constantinople and Moscow - this mediation was supported by three eastern patriarchates (Alexandria, Jerusalem and Antioch) .
“The Russian Orthodox Church finds itself in a difficult situation here. Making peace with Constantinople means not only losing face, but also offending many Ukrainian believers, for whom the OCU was and will be unacceptable, and they themselves consider themselves part of the “Russian world” (even if these words are not spoken loudly in modern Ukraine). After all, Constantinople has made its bid, and refusal to recognize the OCU is impossible for it. Maintaining a tough position leads to conflict with the Greek churches, which, despite some friction, sympathize with Constantinople,” the political scientist sums up.
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