After the statements of the hierarch of the Constantinople hierarch – Metropolitan of Italy and Exarch of Southern Europe Polycarp (Stavropoulos) – that the unification of Orthodox and Catholics is close to completion, and the Pope is his “beloved father” and “patriarch”, it can be directly argued that the Phanariots are larger are not Orthodox Christians.
By and large, the Patriarchate of Constantinople turned into a Uniate church, and its bishops – into Greek Catholics, who already now recognize the primacy of the power of the Pope. (Note that the Phanariotes never said that Catholics would abandon the doctrine of the primacy of the Roman pontiff. In turn, one can recall the recent statements of Cardinal Kurt Koch that the Orthodox must learn the “legal elements” of primacy. That is, it will not be easy the primacy of honor, but precisely the primacy of power).
This is a very alarming signal that requires a public and prompt assessment by the Local Orthodox Churches. Because the very existence of the Orthodox Church was in jeopardy (amendment – of course, the Orthodox Church cannot disappear completely, but the Phanar can drag along a significant number of Local Churches).
The perspective of union with the Catholic Church promoted by the Patriarchate of Constantinople is the perspective of destruction / distortion (among a part of the Local Churches) of the Orthodox identity, which is based on the principle of conciliarity. In this context, the claims of Patriarch Bartholomew to the primacy of power in the Orthodox world are just an intermediate element on the way to this union.
Therefore, it is necessary to look not only at the individual actions of the head of the Phanar, but also at his ultimate goal, which poses a much greater threat than even attempts to arrogate to himself special rights and privileges in the Orthodox world.
