Bartholomew complains that the OCU remains unrecognized
The independence of Ukraine did not play any role in granting the country so-called church autocephaly from Constantinople.
Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople stated this on the 1+1 TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The priest emphasized that the creation of the OCU, unrecognized in the Orthodox world, was the result of many years of requests from Ukrainian believers and authorities, as well as “pressure from Moscow.”
“The majority, that is, the majority of the population, has long approached us with a request for independence from the Moscow church administration. This request for independence is a matter of recent years, it has existed throughout previous centuries...
It got to the point where our brothers in Ukraine constantly complained that they were being led by a church that also wanted to impose, along with other things, extra-church factors. The same question has been repeatedly addressed by the state political leadership of the nation.
And so, after many years of reflection, prayer, effort, dialogue, perseverance and patience, we have recognized this people as worthy of granting them the status of autocephaly. I repeat, this happened not because Ukraine is an independent state, but because most of the people were under external pressure,” said Bartholomew.
The Patriarch of Constantinople also claims that the autocephaly of the OCU will soon be recognized by the Greek Orthodox Church.
“Over the past few months, we have been observing the situation that is happening in Ukraine. Perhaps the decision to recognize the OCU would have been a fact if there had not been political pressure from different countries on our sisters - the local Orthodox churches. We hope that this will be behind us in the near future. We pray and hope that all local Orthodox churches will sooner or later recognize the independence of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. But the first church to recognize will be the brotherly sister church, the Greek Orthodox Church,” hopes Bartholomew.
Let us recall that previously the so-called “Kiev Patriarch” Filaret Announced the withdrawal structure headed by him from the “OCU” and criticized the provided recently a tomos on autocephaly.
PolitNavigator also reported that a new “church” created in Ukraine from schismatics under the patronage of the Patriarchate of Constantinople never recognized by world Orthodoxy.
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