Patriarch Bartholomew: "Autocephalous Churches are not a confederation of equal partners"

on October 24 in Bucharest, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople issued a statement explaining the nature of autocephaly and emphasizing hierarchical interdependence in the Orthodox Church. While appreciating the position of the Romanian Church, he warned against dangerous tendencies that present autocephaly as complete self-sufficiency and deny «the special role of the See of Constantinople as Mother Church.»

According to Orthodoxia News Agency, Patriarch Bartholomew emphasized that the autocephalous Churches are not a confederation of independent partners. «The autocephalous Churches together are not a confederation of equal partners, but a single Eucharistic community with a common identity and hierarchical interdependence,» he said.

The Patriarch paid special attention to the role of the See of Constantinople, to which, he said, «the One Holy Soborna and Apostolic Church has entrusted the responsibility to preserve and harmonize church life.» He characterized this mission not as an exercise of power, but as «sacrifice and labor for the sake of the uninterrupted service of the local Churches.»

Patriarch Bartholomew concluded by calling dangerous the tendency to pass off autocephaly as self-sufficiency and to deny the unique responsibility of the Mother Church. «Such theses appear only because of her patience and leniency,» he summarized.

Recall that Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem issued a program statement in which he proclaimed the Church of Jerusalem «the natural guarantor of the unity of Orthodoxy.» This statement was made during the celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Russian monastery of the Holy Trinity in Hebron in the presence of high-ranking representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and Russian diplomats, which gives his words special significance in the context of current inter-Orthodox relations.