"WE WILL ALL GET BACK TO NORMAL COMMUNICATION AND IT WILL HAPPEN FASTER THAN WE THINK," - CYRIL HOVORUN ON INTER-ORTHODOX RELATIONS

                               

Archimandrite Cyril Hovorun, in an interview with Saken Aimurzaev on the DetectorUA YouTube channel, expressed confidence that very soon the confrontation between Moscow and Constantinople, between the UOC-MP and the OCU, will have a positive outcome. Religious Information Service of Ukraine

"Hysteria about the suffering of the UOC-MP shows that it will not last long, because one can not remain for a long time in a state of hysteria and psychosis. This hysteria is an attempt to show why we should not be together with them, and when they calm down, stop being hysterical, they will see that in fact there is no reason not to communicate, there is no reason left. We will all return to normal communication and it will become faster than we think," the theologian said.

When asked what role Moscow plays in this situation, Kirill Hovorun said:

"Moscow is interested, but we need to distinguish between different areas. These are political entities, or ecclesiastical ones, which are sometimes in antipathy to political ones, which is not noticeable to external observers. In Moscow itself, there are moderate people, priests and bishops who understand that this is a road to nowhere. The fact that Moscow has unilaterally severed relations with Constantinople is a road to nowhere. This is just a tactical step that will lead to a strategic defeat. Political Moscow is interested in having discord and hatred for each other in Ukraine. As soon as the level of hysteria and hatred stops, people will start talking to each other and eventually get along, so I'm optimistic about the prospects for communication. I think it will recover faster than we think."

According to him, hysterical behavior can be explained by the theory that people are trying to find the meaning of their existence, their identity.

"The identity of the UOC-MP was based on the fact that this church is recognized by the Orthodox world. At one time, when I was the head of the Inter-Church Relations Department in this Church, we paid a lot of attention to this. This was the main task – to ensure recognition and communication with the Orthodox world. This was the meaning of our existence in Ukraine — as we explained to others why we are here — because we are recognized by world Orthodoxy. And now world Orthodoxy is beginning to recognize the OCU. What is the meaning of our existence, then? When something is missing, a person gets hysterical. Just a lack of meaning in our existence — why do we exist as a church structure, provided that world Orthodoxy recognizes another church?" the Archimandrite summarizes.