Among the most important tasks of the ROC is work to overcome the schisms in Ecumenical Orthodoxy, which were generated by the illegal and anti-canonical invasion of the Patriarch of Constantinople into Ukraine, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia noted on September 27, writes the website of the DECR ROC.
“I will allow myself to say so, because I know Patriarch Bartholomew well – probably, he did not act with his own mind and not of his own free will,” noted the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.
At the same time, he rejected judgments that, being under external pressure, the Patriarch of Constantinople could not act otherwise: “But how did we act differently, living in an atheistic state? You will not frighten us with any horror stories – we went through everything and did not stop communicating with any Local Orthodox Church, which in our country at that time were often called “henchmen of American imperialism.” We maintained these relations, visited each other, invited delegations here. Therefore, when we are told that today Patriarch Bartholomew allegedly could not have acted otherwise, hinting at powerful forces from outside, I do not accept this argumentation. Among the Patriarchs of Constantinople were martyrs and confessors, one of them – Patriarch Gregory – was hanged at the gates of the Patriarchate. Constantinople has always seemed to us the stronghold of Orthodoxy.”
“And humanly we are very worried that today the Patriarch of Constantinople has fallen into schism, because he received communion with schismatics and recognized self-consecrated persons who do not have legal consecration as canonical bishops,” His Holiness stated.
At the same time, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill emphasized: “Realizing our truth, being convinced that we stand on the unshakable basis of the sacred canons, in a pastoral manner, humanly we must strive to overcome this difficult time in inter-Orthodox relations, because in Greece and in other countries under the influence of the Patriarch of Constantinople, there are our brothers and sisters, pious monks and nuns, and it is a great sorrow for us that others suffer from the mistakes of one person.”