"No other jurisdiction can exist in Ukraine": the Archimandrite of the Phanar commented on the information about the creation of an exarchate for the UOC

The scandalous propagandist of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Archimandrite Roman Anastasiadis, said that Phanar will not create additional exarchates in Ukraine, as this contradicts the logic and the results achieved as a result of the granting of the Tomos of autocephaly to the OCU. The words of the Archimandrite are reported by the media.

«The voluntary transfers of parishes, clergy and believers from the jurisdiction of Metropolitan Onufriy in Kyiv, whose canonical status is uncertain, to the one canonical Orthodox Church of Ukraine continue unhindered and without interruption. In this reality, those who try to muddy the waters and consciences of Ukrainian believers with allegedly «peaceful» initiatives are at least naive (if not deliberate provocateurs and underminers of both the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine), who start with comments and criticisms that deny the work of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, question the validity of the Tomos of autocephaly, and hint at. . a repetition of what preceded the Unification Council of 2018. This has never happened in the history of the Church, and it cannot happen now either,» — Anastasiadis said.

The Archimandrite added that such a decision is similar to if the Patriarchate of Constantinople recognized the Greek «old-style» bypassing the Church of Greece. In his opinion, there are no alternatives to joining the OCU in Ukraine.

«To transfer this to the Greek church reality and understand it better. It would be as if the schismatic «elders» in Greece demanded that the Ecumenical Patriarchate intervene in the autocephalous Church of Greece and, ignoring it, recognize them as a parallel canonical jurisdiction… However, the canonical way for those of them who wish to return to the Church is to join the Church of Greece, renouncing the schism. The Tomos was issued in compliance with due process and validity. And the Tomos created a single canonical ecclesiastical jurisdiction on the entire internationally recognized territory of the Ukrainian state. Those who wish to be canonical must accept the Tomos of the Mother Church and join the Orthodox Church of Ukraine under the leadership of His Beatitude Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, canonically and for life elected at the Unification Council on December 15, 2018. No other church jurisdiction can exist in Ukraine. And even if it exists temporarily and de facto, it cannot be recognized canonically and conciliarly, and it cannot be granted the status of a parallel canonical church jurisdiction in any way,» — the Phanar representative added.

Anastasiadis summarized that, in his opinion, the Patriarch of Constantinople could defrock the entire episcopate and clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for not accepting the Phanar’s invitation to the «Council-2018» and, even after the granting of the Tomos of autocephaly to the OCU, continue to resist the inevitable.

«My personal opinion from the very beginning has been and remains that Metropolitan Onufriy in Kyiv and his clergy — who disrespectfully and brazenly rejected the fatherly and loving invitation of the Ecumenical Patriarch to participate in the Unification Council and join in resolving the Ukrainian schism — should have been given an exclusive period of adaptation and accession to the church canonicity created by the just decisions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. And, after this reasonable period, the Ecumenical Patriarchate should proceed to defrock them and officially declare them schismatics, which they already are, unless, of course, they are sincerely «independent» from Moscow. Because this separation from Moscow was made illegally and arbitrarily, outside any canonical church framework. Unless — as I personally believe — they are deceiving and misleading everyone, especially the Ukrainian people, who suffered greatly from the barbaric Russian invaders. They have to explain to us whether they are ultimately schismatics or traitors,» — the archimandrite concluded.