“We are ready for a fraternal discussion with Constantinople on how to fix this problem,” ROC DECR representative

Hieromonk Stefan (Igumnov), Secretary of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate for Inter-Christian Relations, spoke about whether the Russian Orthodox Church is ready to start a dialogue with the Patriarchate of Constantinople in order to overcome the division in world Orthodoxy. He confirmed that the cause of the interchurch conflict was the Phanar’s recognition of the Ukrainian schism, bypassing the Russian Orthodox Church, while assuring that the Russian Church responded to the situation in the spirit of Orthodox canons. He said this in an interview with The Orthodox Times.

«The canons and tradition of the Orthodox Church, as well as our ecclesiology in general, very clearly define who is a schismatic. First, one cannot call people who are not ordained ‘bishops’. And secondly, you cannot create a church among people who already have a church, because this leads to division. I won’t go into the reasons why the Ecumenical Patriarchate has a different point of view on this situation. However, the canons are clear in this matter, and we adhere to them. That is why we reacted to the situation the way we did,» — said the hieromonk.

Despite the reaction of the Russian Orthodox Church in this particular case, the DECR representative noted that the Moscow Patriarchate has never opposed the settlement of this conflict or dialogue with Constantinople. On the contrary, the Russian Orthodox Church supports any initiative that could lead to a solution to this problem.

«At the same time, the Moscow Patriarchate has never stated that the doors are closed. We have never closed the door to ‘heal this situation’. From the very beginning, when we made the decision on how to respond, we solemnly declared — and have repeatedly said this — that we are ready for a fraternal discussion with Constantinople on how to fix this problem. Because this is a tragedy. We also made efforts to support any initiative aimed at overcoming this division. Remember the meeting initiated by the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Some churches participated, while others did not send representatives. The purpose was to discuss the situation we are in now in the Orthodox world. The Moscow Patriarchate has never closed the door to dialogue, whether at the pan-Orthodox level, or in direct dialogue with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, or about the church situation in Ukraine. The doors were and remain open,» — he added.

Earlier, 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 could 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.