The hierarch of the Cypriot Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Isaiah of Tamassos, believes that Moscow as the Third Rome will be a disaster for Constantinople, since it will lose its historical privileges, international recognition and influence among the Local Churches, and, thus, will be less useful for the West, and it will be easier for Turkey to “dismantle” it. He said this in an interview to the Greek website “Romfea”.

“This creates a platform for the common interests of Constantinople and Western governments,” says Metropolitan Isaiah.

On the other hand, he said, religious divisions have transformed into a geostrategic religious conflict, since Westerners have always considered the Moscow Patriarchate a means of Russian diplomacy abroad.

However, “only those who know nothing about the Moscow Patriarchate continue to view it as an instrument of the state,” he emphasizes.