The meeting of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia was held on December 17 in Prague.
The Synod adopted four resolutions, of which two relate to the
internal life of this local Church and two to relations with other local
churches. Ukrainian theologian Ilya Bey wrote in on Portal-Credo.Ru.
According to him, the Synod of Czech Lands did not succumb under the
influence of Northern "Church capital" and did not satisfy their
requests in full, even despite of a personal visit of the "foreign
Minister" of the Russian Orthodox Church to Metropolitan Rastislav of
the Czech Lands and Slovakia, Archbishop of Prešov and Slovakia.
The Synod, in particular, approved the proposal of Patriarch
Theophilus III of Jerusalem to hold a meeting of primates of local
Churches in February 2020 in Jordan. Also, the Synod recalls the
co-service of Bishop Isaiah of Šumperk with representatives of the OCU
on November 20-21 in Kyiv.
In connection with the "misunderstanding", the Synod insists on its
position, adopted at the February meeting, on maintaining a "restrained
attitude" to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine until a pan-Orthodox
consensus is reached on the issue of its autocephaly. The Synod also
requires its members to respect this practice in their foreign
activities.
"However, other members of the Synod themselves adhere to the stated
position very inconsistently, since they enter into communication with
the branch of the ROC in Ukraine, in which it is difficult to see
"neutrality," the theologian notes.
"In any case, the absence of any canonical prohibitions in relation
to Bishop Isaiah because of his co-service in the Church was indicative.
After all, from the point of view of the Mother Church of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate, the only canonical Church in Ukraine is the
OCU, and in the case of an appeal to Constantinople, Bishop Isaiah would
not only be justified but, conversely, canonical prohibitions would
await those synodals who made an illegal decision regarding their
brother. The absence of sanctions for concelebration with those whom the
Ukrainian branch of the ROC has defined as "excommunicated" in the
decision of its Synod forces this Synod, if it wants to remain at least
somewhat consistent, to recognize the entire episcopate of the Church of
Czech Lands as "excommunicated". However, such a decision would only
accelerate the further self-isolation of the Moscow Patriarchate from
"universal Orthodoxy"," Ilya Bey stressed.