Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk
On September 25, the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCOR) announced the suspension of joint service with the bishops of the Constantinople Patriarchate. And the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate demanded that the Exarchs of Constantinople leave Kiev. The issue of autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is a pre-election political project, and the actions of Constantinople in Ukraine are anticanonical, says Metr. Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for external church relations. In an interview with Izvestia, he also spoke about why what was happening would not heal the schism, but legalize it, why the ROC is not afraid to be isolated among local churches, and why the Russian Church calls for an all-Orthodox discussion of the problem to be initiated.