“The Moscow Patriarchate today is schismatic,” Phanar hierarch

The hierarch of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Metropolitan Emmanuel (Adamakis) of Chalcedon, accused the Russian Orthodox Church of committing a schism. The hierarch believes that the intervention of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople in Ukraine and the creation of the OCU was fully justified. At the same time, the reaction of the Russian Orthodox Church to this step, in his opinion, is a sign of the Kremlin’s influence. He said this in an interview with the French edition of Le Point.

“The decision of His Holiness regarding Ukraine was prophetic, but, above all, it was in line with the rights and obligations of primacy of service, which the Ecumenical Throne has as the Mother Church. Only the Moscow Patriarchate today has declared itself in schism, and only it is schismatic today, to fall again, but this time voluntarily, under the Kremlin yoke. The gap is not on our side, we do not confuse this deviation with the rich contribution of Russian-speaking Christianity to world culture and are working to restore unity with the free Russian Church,” – the hierarch said.

As reported, on March 9, 2025, the Patriarchal St. George’s Church of the Patriarchate of Constantinople hosted religious events in honor of the Week of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, which were attended by the heads of the Phanar and the OCU. During the event, the patriarchal protodeacon read out the traditional list (diptych) of the Primates of the Local Churches, in which, after Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, πολλὰ τα ἔτη (“many years” – Ed.) was proclaimed to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.