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by Vladimir Rozanskij, asianews
Archbishop Hyeronimus II of Greece and
Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kiev gathered together in Constantinople to
pray for the feast of St. Bartholomew. "Prudence" in the recognition of
autocephaly. Patriarch Filaret accuses Epiphanius of "selling out
authority to Constantinople".
Moscow (AsiaNews) - On 11 June last, in Istanbul, the head of the
Orthodox Church of Greece, Archbishop Hyeronimus II (Liapis), and the
Metropolitan of Kiev Epiphany (Dumenko) participated together in the
prayer of Vespers on the feast for the name day of the ecumenical
patriarch Bartholomew (Archontonis). This meeting suggested a favorable
Greek orientation on the issue of Ukrainian autocephaly, but sources
from the archbishopric of Athens denied this impression.
Hyeronimus had arrived at the Phanar residence last Monday 10 June,
to participate in the celebrations of Patriarch Bartholomew, along with
other Greek prelates. The following day the representatives of the new
Ukrainian Orthodox Church, with Metropolitan Epiphanius, who took a seat
next to the Archbishop of Athens, presented themselves at the monastery
of the "living spring".
At the end of the liturgical prayer, Epiphanius gave a gift to
Hyeronimus of Panagia, the medal of the Virgin that the bishops wear
around their neck, in memory of his enthronement. The gesture was
photographed by media, and interpreted as a sign of mutual recognition.
In the evening, the Archbishop of Athens returned home with the Greek
delegation, without taking part in the celebrations, motivating his
departure with having pressing commitments the following day.
Sources from the Archbishopric of Athens insist that "in no case can
this meeting be considered a recognition of the Ukrainian autocephaly by
the Greek Church. The Archbishop had gone to congratulate Bartholomew
on the day of his name day [which for the Orthodox has even more value
than the birthday - ed], as head of our mother church, and did not
expect to meet Epiphanius. We are very cautious about the issue of
autocephaly; we decided not to talk about it at the ordinary meeting of
the Synod, referring it to the general assembly of the Synod of
Bishops," declared an ecclesiastic from Athens to the Russian agency RIA Novosti. There is no mention of the Archbishop's trip to Istanbul on the website of the Greek Church.
Despite the pressures of the ecumenical patriarchate, so far no
autocephalous Orthodox Church has recognized the Tomos granted from
Constantinople to Kiev. In an interview of these days with the Ukrainian
agency LB.ua, Epiphanius of Kiev says he is convinced that the
Greek Synod will recognize the Ukrainian autocephaly, revealing that he
had recently ordained a priest of Greek ethnicity from an seminary
belonging to the Greek Church.
Moreover, the problems for Epiphanius are within his own fold rather
than from the foreign Churches. The elderly "patriarch emeritus" Filaret
(Denisenko) has been openly challenging his ex-collaborator, Epiphanius
for weeks, accusing him of having excluded him from the government of
the Church of Kiev, and of having yielded in fact to Constantinople,
submitting to the point of rendering the received autocephaly to them,
and ultimately playing to Moscow by demonstrating the weakness of the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Filaret intends to convene the "Local Council" of the Kiev
Patriarchate on 20 June, which was dissolved on 15 December with the
accession to the autocephaly proposed by Constantinople. The elder
bishop announced the convocation on June 11, during the Ukrainian
Intelligent Forum gathered under the slogan "For the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church, for the Patriarchate of Kiev".
If he fails to limit the activism of his old sponsor, Epiphanius may
even find himself having to return the Tomos to Constantinople,
especially if Filaret manages to bring a significant number of bishops
to his side. This time politics will not intrude: the new president
Volodymyr Zelensky, while showing willingness to support the local
Church, has no intention of intervening in person, unlike his
predecessor Petro Poroshe
