"If they recognize the mistake": ROC names conditions for resumption of dialogue with Patriarchate of Constantinople

Vakhtang Kipshidze, deputy head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and the Media, spoke about the conditions under which relations between the Moscow and Constantinople Patriarchates can be restored. According to Kipshidze, the main step to be taken by Phanar is to cancel the decision to create the OCU and grant this organization the Tomos of autocephaly. He said this in an interview with RTVI.

“If the Patriarchate of Constantinople really recognizes that what it has done is a huge mistake, <…> if it reverses this decision, then, of course, this opens up certain prospects for the resumption of relations. But until then, I think it’s impossible. Because this is a huge violence, an outrage on the conscience of believers: when the head of a large local church (not just a large, authoritative local church) names self-ordained, vested bishops. This is simply an outrage against the Christian spirit. All these persecutions organized by the Ukrainian state against the canonical Church are supported by Phanar,” – Kipshidze said.

Earlier, the hierarch of the UOC, Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy and Kaniv, appealed to the head of the Church of Constantinople, Patriarch Bartholomew, to consider the Ukrainian church issue at the Pan-Orthodox level. The bishop is convinced that the recognition of Ukrainian schismatics and the granting of the Tomos of autocephaly to them was a fatal mistake that could split world Orthodoxy.