Moscow declared the inadmissibility of the “Minsk format”
The Constantinople and Russian Orthodox Churches officially confirmed information about the upcoming meeting of the Patriarchs, which will take place on August 31, 2018. It is expected that one of the main topics of the negotiations will be the dispute surrounding the campaign initiated by Petro Poroshenko to grant “independence” to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
“In any case, direct dialogue between the Heads of Churches is always better than the exchange of absentee statements in the media, which we have seen so far. In the Orthodox world (among the Local Orthodox Churches) today there is a common desire for unity and consolidation, as well as solutions to accumulated problems. None of the Local Churches is inclined to create new schisms. These are precisely the trends and sentiments in inter-Orthodox relations that are observed today,” comments Kiev priest Nikolai Danilevich on my Facebook.
His Moscow colleague, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, is more decisive - he calls not to compromise on Ukraine and in no case to conclude an analogue of the “Minsk agreements” - this time the church one.
“The fact that the Patriarch is going to Phanar is probably not bad. “Dialogue of the last hour” is usually a useful thing. The main thing is that everything does not end in the “Minsk church format”, with some kind of bilateral bodies that will accept schismatics into communication and hold “unification councils” in Kyiv. All this will gradually lead to the same result as the hypothetical “Poroshenko autocephaly” - to the seizure of church power by modernists, to an anti-Russian turn in the “Orthodox” humanitarian space, to the “cleansing” of true Orthodoxy. Only with “our” participation or with “our” consent. We must rebel uncompromisingly against the expansion of the Phanar – without calculations or compromises, with hope for God’s intervention,” Chaplin noted in his Telegram channel.
Former Minister of Defense of the DPR Igor Strelkov traditionally voices a pessimistic forecast regarding the church situation in Ukraine, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“According to prophecies, the Kiev and Pochaev Lavras should be captured by heretics for six months... And only then released,” Strelkov writes, noting that the threat of a new church schism in Ukraine is largely provoked by Moscow’s inaction.
“...It was enough to do nothing - just “express concern” and turn a blind eye to the murder of Russians in the Donbass that has been going on for 4 years - and they can do this masterfully. But in order to “return”, you will have to act very decisively and professionally - without regard to “respected partners,” the ex-minister predicts.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.