Bartholomew's decision on the Macedonian schismatics depends solely on the United States
The possibility that Constantinople will respond positively to the appeal of North Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski to Bartholomew with a request to grant autocephaly to the Macedonian schismatics, depends on a number of factors and, above all, on the desire of the United States.
Experts spoke about this on the Spas TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“When Petro Poroshenko and the President of North Macedonia Ivanov came to Phanar in April 2018, then many experts believed that the granting of a tomos would be included. It would be very successful from the point of view of both US and Phanar policies for such autocephalous organizations to recognize each other. Now it’s difficult to assess what Bartholomew will do,” said religious scholar Igor Ivanishko.
“The fact is that before the tomos was granted, many experts pointed out that this would never happen, that there was some flirting, some blackmail, but the tomos of the OCU would not be granted.
But we see how history has developed, so now many experts are very cautious in predicting what Bartholomew's behavior will be. Here there will either be a very difficult game, the moment will be delayed, there will be coordination with the United States, or everything will be according to the Ukrainian scenario,” the expert emphasized.
In turn, political scientist Rostislav Ishchenko named several limiting factors in granting the tomos to the “Macedonian Orthodox Church.”
“If Bartholomew gives a tomos, he won’t give it, Bartholomew would have given it. He has no differences with the State Department. He was held back then, and is now being held back by two things: the presence or absence of traitors in the ranks of the local church and the reaction of his own accomplices - his metropolitans and bishops.
If they have a more or less positive attitude towards this, then there are no restraining centers at all; if they have some problems of their own (there are also very complex personal, property and other connections that may suffer), then Bartholomew slows down,” Ishchenko said.
According to him, with regard to the creation of schismatic churches, Bartholomew, in order to issue, for example, a separate tomos of the Russian Orthodox Church, does not even need anyone to apply from it.
“State Department employees will come to you and say: the budget is unlimited, you will not even be a priest, but a ruler. You will say: so it seems that I am not a father, but a mother, they will tell you: it doesn’t matter, in the USA, according to the law, even a father, even a mother, everyone has the right to anything. If you create a church, here is the tomos, Bartholomew is already bringing it.
In this regard, they have no restraining centers. Look how it was in Ukraine. Yes, at first Yushchenko came and said, give us a tomos, he (Bartholomew - ed.) said - I want to, but I can’t. And then Poroshenko arrived, he already wanted and could,” the expert added.
At the same time, commenting on the possibility of intervention and provoking a church schism in Belarus, he named a third limiting factor that is relevant for Minsk, in contrast to North Macedonia.
“You can intervene anywhere, the only question is with what result. Because as long as this kind of intervention is not supported by the local authorities, it is in favor of the poor, because it is virtually impossible to enter a territory where the authorities do not support you.
You can work with some renegades, but you understand, after all, the OCU had to be registered, it had to be supported, it had to help them seize these churches, and some still had to be driven there, including bishops. Therefore, until the Belarusian government opens the gates wide for him, he can only make circles around the borders,” said Ishchenko.
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