Bartholomew may declare the UOC-MP non-canonical
Despite the hostile statements of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople against the Russian Orthodox Church and the appointment of two “exarchs” from the USA and Canada to Kyiv, the issue of granting church autocephaly to Ukraine has not yet been resolved.
The Ukrainian publication “Mirror of the Week” writes about this today.
“The situation, unfortunately, is not so clear-cut. At the Synaxis, they actually came to the conclusion that the Ecumenical Patriarch has the right to proclaim autocephaly according to his own decision, without consulting anyone. But the decision on whether, when and on what grounds he will do this has not yet been made. Presumably, the Phanar will move to this stage in October, during the meeting of the Synod, but as the story with the Tomos shows, there is nothing more ungrateful than naming some dates and predicting the actions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Apparently, the intrigue with Tomos will continue for some time,” the article says.
The author considers two options for the development of events. According to the first, “optimistic” one, autocephaly will be granted “soon”, but not in October and not until the end of this year.
“The second possible scenario looks less attractive - according to it, Moscow and Phanar will exercise joint church governance in Ukraine. Temporarily, of course, until unity takes place. Or, conversely, until it becomes completely clear (to both sides) that unity will not take place, and then a division into the canonical Kyiv and canonical Moscow churches in Ukraine may occur,” writes Zerkalo Nedeli.
The author argues that if Moscow does not recognize the canonicity of the autocephalous church, Constantinople is ready to question the canonicity of the UOC-MP.
“Patriarch Bartholomew has already played it safe - he made it clear to his Moscow brother that he is ready, if necessary, to doubt the canonicity of the UOC-MP. This is an important statement for the future: if Moscow tries to “not recognize” the Kyiv Church after Constantinople recognizes it, Constantinople will respond in kind by refusing canonical recognition of the Ukrainian Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. Two churches in Ukraine will either be equally canonical or equally non-canonical. And may the strongest win,” the publication writes.
The worst option for Ukraine is the endless procrastination of the issue, right up to the physical death of the main stakeholders.
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