HOLY AND GREAT COUNCIL DOCUMENT

Draft Synodical Document

Τρίτη 6 Νοεμβρίου 2018

ARCHBISHOP JOB (GETCHA) THINKS THAT ALL UKRAINIAN BISHOPS ARE DE FACTO BISHOPS OF THE PATRIARCHATE OF CONSTANTINOPLE


Archbishop Job (Getcha) thinks that all Ukrainian bishops are de facto bishops of the Patriarchate of Constantinople

11/02/2018 After the recent abolition of the Act of 1686 by the Synod of the Church of Constantinople about transferring the Kiev Metropolis to Moscow, the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine no longer exists. This was stated in an interview with the BBC by Archbishop Job of Telmessos (Getcha), a representative of the Constantinople Patriarchate at the World Council of Churches in Geneva. Coming from the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada, Archbishop Job actively participates in the processes taking place in the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
The archbishop found it difficult to name the specific dates for the provision of autocephaly by the Patriarch Bartholomew of Thomos, noting that the autocephalous Church in Ukraine "will surely appear because this is the resolution of the Ecumenical Patriarchate"
"In the Orthodox Church, the administration of the Church always coincides with the administration of the state, the Zemstvo - it was not I who invented and not Patriarch Bartholomew, it is said in the 17th rule of the Fourth Ecumenical Council," said Archbishop Job. "In principle, when a new state appears, it may ask for an autocephaly for its Church."
According to the bishop, Constantinople took decisive steps right now for two reasons: firstly, earlier he did not want to “take steps that could stop or postpone the holding of the Holy and Great Cathedral in Crete”; The second factor was the current foreign policy situation around Ukraine. The archbishop claims that "there are many Orthodox believers in Ukraine who ... do not want to have ties with the Orthodox Church in Russia because of the conflict in Donbas."
The fact that the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada appealed to Fanar with a request for autocephaly gives Archbishop Job the reason to declare that this is the desire of the majority of the people: "In each country, the parliament consists of deputies who are elected by the people, so there is in every democracy. And every deputy is it is the voice of its people. So, when the Verkhovna Rada appealed to the Ecumenical Patriarchate with a majority of votes, this means that the majority of the Ukrainian people appealed to the Ecumenical Patriarchate to provide autocephaly. "
The hierarch describes the actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople as altruistic and aimed at "saving millions of people." “If the Ecumenical Patriarchate wanted to buy something, he could say: we have the right to restore our metropolitan church that existed [in Kiev] before the end of the 17th century,” he said. “But Constantinople does not want this. Constantinople wants to donate to Ukraine autocephaly so that Ukraine has its own Church. "
The retaliatory measures taken by the Moscow Patriarchate, Archbishop Job, called "a reflex reaction of a certain indignation" and expressed the hope that Moscow "will turn to reason." However, the bishop of Constantinople warned, "if such a situation persists for a long time, then of course, the Ecumenical Throne as the First Throne of Ecumenical Orthodoxy will be forced to take certain measures."
Answering the correspondent’s question about how the local Orthodox Churches reacted to information about the upcoming tribute to autocephaly in Ukraine, Job of Telmessos said: “The reactions were very different. They can be attributed to two categories: there were certain Churches who said that the Ecumenical Patriarchate would decide and proclaim - we must accept this. Others believed that since the Orthodox Church in Ukraine had been under the administration of the Orthodox Church in Russia for three hundred years, such a decision should be made in coordination with the Orthodox Church. the Church in Russia. " He also reported that some of the Church, initially supporting the position of Constantinople, subsequently changed their position.
It is very important that the decision of the [Constantinople] Synod of October 11 abolished the act of 1686,” Archbishop Job further stated. “From a canonical point of view, this means that the Church of the Moscow Patriarchate no longer exists in Ukraine. All bishops in Ukraine are de facto according to the decision of this synod, they are the bishops of the Ecumenical Throne, and now they must wait for the directive of the Ecumenical Patriarchate regarding its further functioning and existence in the perspective of granting autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine do not. " The bishop does not know how much the bishops of the UOC-MP are aware of their status, but he is confident that the Ecumenical Patriarch "will inform them when he considers it necessary."
As for the name of the new autocephaly, then, according to the Archbishop of Telmessos, it will be called the "Orthodox Church in Ukraine". “It will unite all Orthodox believers residing on the territory of Ukraine, despite their origin, nationality, citizenship. All Orthodox believers who are on the territory of Ukraine will belong to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine,” said the bishop, categorically opposing the name “Ukrainian Orthodox Church ":" Not "Ukrainian Orthodox Church", because the Church is one. It belongs to Christ, and not to any nation or state. In Greek, the names of the Churches sound like this: the Orthodox Church in Greece, Serbia or Bulgaria. Slavic names - Bulgarian,
Archbishop Job also said that he "observes and even experiences" because "since the 19th century, the Protestant doctrine of the Church had a very strong influence on the mentality of Russian Orthodoxy ... Protestantism is just a group of separate churches, it would be an exaggeration to even call it a confederation. And under the influence of this doctrine, Moscow canonists of the 20th century began to accuse Constantinople of Eastern papism. But these accusations are unfounded, "the bishop believes.
Source: https://drevo-info.ru/news/24241.html