Recognition of OCU by Local Churches was under pressure, - hierarch of Serbian Church

The hierarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Irinej of Bačka, commented on the situation with the Ukrainian church crisis and the reaction of the Local Orthodox Churches to it. The bishop claims that those Churches that recognized the OCU did so under pressure and often contrary to the canons and their own charters. He said this in an interview with the publication “PECHAT”, according to the press service of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

“The tragic division in Ukraine, unfortunately, very quickly turned into a division in the whole of Orthodoxy, and a twofold division. On the one hand, we are talking about a division between those Local Orthodox Churches that do not recognize any canonical legitimacy for the Ukrainian schismatics led by pseudo-metropolitan citizen Dumenko, as well as some other, few Local Churches that recognize the legitimacy of the Ukrainian schismatics, although mostly reluctantly or under pressure, and only by the decision of the Primate, without a corresponding decision of the Council of Bishops. On the other hand, there is also a division within the latter, which is present in some places in a sharpened form, in others in a milder form, not sparing this time, unlike both the distant and recent past, even the Holy Mount Athos, the centuries-old stronghold of Orthodoxy,” — said Metropolitan Irinej.

Despite all the complexity of the situation, the hierarch of the Serbian Church claims that there is still hope for resolving the split in world Orthodoxy over the Ukrainian church crisis. Metropolitan Irinej calls for increased prayers in this regard.

“There is always hope for the resolution of this problem, the greatest in the history of the Church since the great schism between the Churches of the East and West in the eleventh century to the present day, and for the restoration of peace and unity between the Local Orthodox Churches, and precisely because Christ Himself, and not anyone else or anything else, is the Prince of Peace and our Peace, who made both into one and destroyed the barrier that stood in the middle, abolishing enmity. … to create one new person in himself, making peace, and to reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, killing enmity on it (Ephesians 2:14-16),”  — the bishop added.

Earlier, we reported that the Local Orthodox Churches began consultations on the settlement of the Ukrainian church crisis. It is reported that the process was initiated in connection with the change of leadership in the United States of America, as key figures from Donald Trump’s environment are closely monitoring the religious situation in Ukraine and are determined to resolve this problem.