The hierarch of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, Metropolitan Isaiah of Tamassos, believes that the Ukrainian schism is associated with the problematic relations between the Moscow and Ecumenical Patriarchates, which arose after the fall of the Byzantine Empire. He said this in an interview to the Greek website “Romfea”.

According to him, Constantinople has always worried that Moscow is trying to take its place in the church hierarchy.

“Constantinople considers its policy in Ukraine to be correct, although its actions at the same time serve the West,” he notes.

The hierarch explains that the reason he and others object to the intervention of Constantinople in the “Ukrainian question” is that the history and traditions of the Church have mixed with the foreign policy of states, and thus the future of Orthodox unity is seriously threatened.

The church should go its own common path, no matter how politicians try to set us against each other, the hierarch believes.