The news of the last hour. In Minsk, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church made a forced decision in response to the actions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to legalize the schism in Ukraine. The ROC has completely broken Eucharistic communion with Constantinople. The ROC has repeatedly warned the schism will carry unfortunate consequences.
Evgeny Reshetnev's report from Minsk.
The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, which includes the heads of seven local churches, met for several hours. The decision was extremely tough. Obviously, it was not easy.
Hilarion, Moscow Patriarchate: "At today's meeting of the Holy Synod, it was decided to completely break Eucharistic communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. It was a forced decision, but our Holy Synod could not make any other decision, all of the logic behind the recent actions by the Patriarchate of Constantinople led to this".
The refusal of Eucharistic communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople means a break in all relations. The resolution was approved by the heads of the Moldavian, Kazakh, Uzbek churches.
Hilarion, Moscow Patriarchate: "We won't be able to hold joint divine services with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Our bishops and priests won't be able to participate in the celebration of the liturgy with the hierarchs and priests of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the laity won't be able to receive communion in the Constantinople churches".
The Ukrainian regime is trying to justify the schism by the will of the people. Pyotr Poroshenko and the self-proclaimed Patriarch Filaret led the rally for autocephaly or the tomos. Fiery speeches flowed from the stage. It turned out that few of the rally participants who were brought to Sofia Square by buses even knew what a tomos was.
- What is a tomos? What is a tomos?
- I don't know.
- I think this is a trial for us.
- Why?
- Something that the clergy has for us.
Neighboring streets sank into smoke from burning firecrackers. Supporters of the UOC, nationalists of all stripes marched around Kiev, calling for help from some kind of their own God of the Sun.
"God of the Sun! God of the Sun!"
Another portion of firecrackers flew to the office of Viktor Medvedchuk and his movement Ukrainian Choice. There was an arson attempt. None of the attackers were detained by the police. Smash and burn is their second nature. After the schismatics receive the official status, they will want to seize new churches. It is clear who will come to their aid in this. In Kiev-Pechersk Lavra a prayer was held the day before against the radicals seizing the monastery. The head of the monastery, Metropolitan Paul, said they'd received threats before. The Ukrainian press reported a group of young people was detained on the territory of the monastery, carrying pepper sprays, bits, and knives.
Patriarch Kirill at the same time led divine liturgy at the Minsk All Saints Cathedral. They offered prayers for the unity of Holy Orthodoxy. This morning, the head of the church met with Alexander Lukashenko. The conversation of the primate with the Belarusian president lingered for two hours.
Alexander Lukashenko: "The schism isn't about us. This is not for us. We will definitely be together because it is impossible to split us".
Patriarch Kirill: "The Synod is the supreme council of our church, which operates between the councils. It has all the powers that the Council of Bishops delegates to it".
Filaret Denisenko, the person who has been sowing the schism for more than a decade, is trying to be legitimized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew removed the anathema imposed not by him, which is nonsense in itself. Not to mention the fact that he previously supported this anathema. He also called the Ukrainian Metropolia of the Moscow Patriarchate the only canonical in Ukraine.
Istanbul is not only making a decision outside its competence but is also deliberately reinforcing the schism within the church. The position of the Moscow Patriarchate and other local churches on this matter was firmly formulated a month ago. Then it was decided to stop the prayer commemoration of the Patriarch of Constantinople and stop the joint divine liturgies with all Istanbul hierarchs.
Evgeny Reshetnev, Alexander Alexandronets, Margarita Kurilova, Mikhail Artyukhin, Nikolai Vasilyev, Oleg Peletsky, Vesti, Minsk.
