Metropolitan Theodosius published an appeal to the Patriarch of Constantinople to change the decision on the establishment of the OCU

The hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Feodosiy (Snigiryov) of Cherkasy and Kanev, has published an open appeal to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. The bishop urged the head of the Phanar to correct the mistake made in 2019, when the Ukrainian schism was legalized, which led to unprecedented persecution of the clergy and believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The text of the appeal is submitted in full.

Address of Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkassy and Kanev
to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople

Your Holiness, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople!

I am writing to you on behalf of the numerous and long-suffering flock and clergy, monastics and laity of the Cherkassy Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Do not consider my direct address to you as some kind of impertinence or non-compliance with church etiquette or protocol. I have two good reasons for this.

The first is that at one time, long before the events related to the granting of the Tomos to the OCU, when you and I served together and communicated in the ancient monastery of Panagia Sumela, as well as had lengthy conversations at the Phanar, you yourself gave me the right to speak to you directly about the problems of Orthodoxy in Ukraine. And I will sin before God and before people if I do not use this right now. And the second reason is the tragic circumstances in which my diocese, as well as the whole Orthodoxy in Ukraine, finds itself now.

Cherkassy diocese, which I head, is one of the most affected dioceses in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. It suffered at the hands of, in the words of the Gospel, «thieves and robbers» from the so-called «Orthodox Church of Ukraine», who «did not enter the Church fence by the door», but «got in by another way» (John 10:1). They did it by Your decision, Your Holiness. And now, like thieves and robbers, they rule in the vineyard of Christ. They beat and wound the servants of the True Master — Christ, they divide the clothes of His children among themselves, they overturn the baskets and trample on the grapes. For their crimes in Cherkassy the representatives of the OCU are not punished, and their atrocities have not yet received a proper moral assessment from Your side, Your Holiness. Although all of us here in Ukraine have been waiting for it.

Recently you gave an interview to French television. It coincided with the visit to my cathedral city of Cherkassy of the leader of the «Orthodox Church of Ukraine» created with Your blessing, Epiphanius Dumenko. He performed his act in Cherkassy, which I dare not call a divine service, in my Cathedral, bloodily seized by militants less than a year ago. The blood of monks and priests has not yet had time to dry on the slabs of the Cathedral, the wounds on the bodies of Cherkassy confessors of faith have not yet had time to heal, and Mr. Dumenko has already come to someone else’s Cathedral and illegally climbed my pulpit. He performed his action on stolen liturgical vessels, including the Chalice, which was presented to me personally by my spiritual daughters many years ago for the diocesan ordination. It was served by the servants wearing the liturgical sticharions taken from us by force. And on the gallery of the Cathedral at this time adherents of the OCU piled icons of saints, which they do not consider saints for political reasons.

Ukraine’s largest Orthodox church, the Archangel Michael Cathedral in Cherkassy, was seized by Epifaniy’s supporters last October. Priests, monks and lay people were maimed in the seizure. They were tear-gassed, their arms, legs, teeth and heads were broken. They were shot right inside the Cathedral. I myself was torn to pieces, my cassock was broken, and then I was hit on the head with a club with such force that I suffered a concussion. I was saved from certain death only by the monk’s cloak, which softened the blow. Shortly before the blow and before the concussion, I had time to address You, Your Holiness, from the altar besieged by terrorists, where we were sitting as hostages. I am sure that you saw this appeal.

The corrupt police, prosecutor’s office and other special services have not yet given and, apparently, are not going to give a proper assessment of these crimes of the representatives of the OCU and their armed mercenaries. And this despite the fact that the Archangel Michael Cathedral in Cherkassy de jure continues to be the property of the Cherkassy diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which I head, and the invaders use it simply by «right of force».

The Constitution and laws in Ukraine are practically ineffective now, so it is not surprising that there is no reaction to these crimes on the part of the Ukrainian authorities and law enforcement agencies.

But why have You, Your Holiness, not yet forbidden Your wards from the OCU to commit these atrocities? After all, You have full authority over them, according to the Tomos You issued. You so often declare that «the Ukrainian Orthodox people are in your heart». So why don’t you stop these criminals? Why have you not even said a single word of sympathy or support to the beaten and maimed believers of Cherkassy, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk and other regions of Ukraine, if we are «in your heart»?

Even the United Nations has already given a proper assessment of the events in Cherkassy, condemning these religiously motivated crimes and calling for an immediate response from the Ukrainian authorities. In the UN sounded the alarm, purely in their official document representatives (special rapporteurs) of the UN, drew attention to the forceful seizure of the Cathedral in Cherkassy and the bloody beating of its defenders, including me. The UN called for an immediate investigation of this crime.

But we did not receive words of sympathy and support from you.

In an interview with French television you said that you do not regret the creation of the so-called «Orthodox Church of Ukraine». And very wrongly you do not regret!

Our Church was already in a very similar situation after the October coup d’état in the early twentieth century, when the new Bolshevik government persecuted Christians. They persecuted the Church also by the hands of the newly created pseudo-Church of the Renewalists. Then, to great regret, your predecessor in the cathedra Patriarch Gregory VII of Constantinople took the side of the Renewalists, legalizing them. Patriarch Gregory not only demanded that the holy Patriarch and confessor Tikhon leave his throne, but through his representative, Archimandrite Basil, he blessed the false council of the schismatic Renewalists. He blessed them with an epistle with the words: «I am with you in absentia!» This same representative of the Patriarchate of Constantinople was officially an honorary member of the Renewal false synod and constantly participated in schismatic sacrilegious «worship services» in the 1920s.

Now, a century later, the situation is repeating itself with almost 100% coincidence. The state authorities of Ukraine persecute our Church and do everything for its total destruction. The «Orthodox Church of Ukraine», created with your direct participation, is directly involved in this.

Then, in the twentieth century, our people magnanimously forgave your predecessor’s betrayal of our Church and cooperation with the Communists in persecuting it.

Whether our faithful people will also forgive this time is a big question. After all, a lot of blood and suffering have been brought to our land by the schismatics you have launched into the Church, launched bypassing the doors, without repentance, without legal ordination. Launched «by another way», as it is said in the Holy Gospel (John 10:1).

That is why it was very strange to hear your words that in years or decades it will be possible to unite the OCU with our Church. Believe me, this will not happen, as there can be no unification of Christ with Veliar. Therefore, your today’s adamant position expressed to French television is very dangerous and destructive. It has all chances to become a trigger, a trigger mechanism for the second great schism in the Church.

From personal communication with You I remember that You would like to become an active participant in the healing of the first great schism of the Church in 1054. But in fact You, Your Holiness, can become the cause of the second great and irreversible schism of world Orthodoxy. And if You do not realize it now, it will be realized sooner or later by Your successors on the pulpit, who will have to clean up these stables. Whether they will be able to do it is unknown. But it will certainly darken the memory of your name in church history.

Today, given the obvious iniquities of the OCU, You, Your Holiness, have every moral and canonical reason to put an end to them and to stop the persecution of the Church in Ukraine. Now You have not only many reasons, but also all the leverage to correct this tragic mistake. After all, its fruits have already become obvious to the entire oikoumene.

Yes, it is not easy to change your decisions even for a simple, ordinary person, and even more so for a hierarch in your respected position and honorable age. But can any personal honor, or even the honor of the pulpit you head, be higher for you than the real salvation of world Orthodoxy from a new great schism? Would personal honor be an obstacle for you to stop the suffering of millions of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine?

This is impossible to believe. I do not want to believe it.

Your Holiness, the faithful of Ukraine will not believe it as long as you are alive. They, pouring their confessor’s blood, will hope that the Lord will give you a change of mind and change your decisions! After all, we are now being subjected to real persecution by the godless government in Ukraine and its faithful servants — the so-called «clergy» of the OCU.

Of course, to correct the situation it will not be enough to simply revoke the Tomos, which you issued to the «Orthodox Church of Ukraine». The main thing that will now be able to calm the unrest in world Orthodoxy, reconcile its hierarchs from different countries and heal the beginning of a new great schism is the revocation of your legalization of Ukrainian schismatics. They must repent of the sin of schism and even then it will be possible to raise the question of making legal ordinations over them. And these issues cannot be solved without the participation of the legitimate Kyriarchal Church for Ukrainian Orthodoxy — the Russian Orthodox Church, regardless of any political problems of today.

And this, in turn, will be impossible to do without your rejection of the doctrine of the «first without equals», alien to the spirit of Church Sobornost, which you first personally openly proclaimed on French television. But it is absolutely necessary to do all this. Otherwise, canonical order and justice will not be restored in world Orthodoxy. And so the bloody wound of a new schism will not be healed, and 2019 will become for the Church the same tragic frontier as 1054 became in its time.

We trust, Your Holiness, in your wisdom and in your ability to humble yourself before the ways of God, which the Lord so obviously opens today for the whole Orthodox world. It is revealed in the confessional feat of the Church-martyr, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He also reveals in the anti-Christian behavior and malice of the artificially created OCU.

Today, both the future peace of the oikoumene and the hypothetical irreversible split of world Orthodoxy are in your hands. Please do not make a fatal mistake, Your Holiness.