RELATIONS SEVERED BETWEEN THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH AND THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE OF CONSTANTINOPLE: THE PROSPECT OF A NEW SCHISM

Jan Strzelecki, Centre for Eastern Studies

On 15 October, the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) decided to sever relations and eucharistic communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (PC). This decision is a reaction to the decision by the Synod of Bishops of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, which on 11 October annulled its decision of 1686 to transfer the metropolis of Kiev to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate, and confirmed that it would continue to work for the establishment of an autocephalous Orthodox Church in Ukraine. In a special statement, the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church said that “the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople has hypocritically, by its reckless and politically motivated decisions, introduced even greater division and deepened the suffering of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church”.