Archbishop Mark Arndt of Berlin (ROCOR) said that he had forbidden his priests to serve together with the clergy of the Russian tradition adopted in 2019 as part of the ROC Archdiocese of Western European parishes. Most likely, the reason for the prohibition by Archbishop Mark of his priests to concelebrate with the clergy of the Archdiocese was the efforts of Archbishop (and already Metropolitan) John to reconcile with Constantinople, writes the Orthodoxy and Zombies Telegram channel.

“For example, in December 2020, a joint communiqué was adopted, signed by John Renneto and at that time Metropolitan Emmanuel of Gaul. And this is in a situation of rupture of Eucharistic communion between the churches, when Patriarch Bartholomew is called almost a schismatic.

The current situation is, of course, primarily a challenge for Patriarch Kirill. On the one hand, the behavior of Metropolitan John Renneto often does not correspond to the party’s policy, he is too free in shaping his policy of relations in Constantinople. In addition, as they say, in his subordination there are indeed clerics with some canonical problems, but when did this become the reason for the ban on concelebration? On the other hand, the actions of Archbishop Mark undermine the unity of the ROC. But, oddly enough, this also speaks of the space of freedom: if one of the Russian bishops tried to do it, he would immediately lose his chair, ”writes the Telegram channel.

Earlier, Metropolitan Mark (Arndt) of Berlin and German ROCOR forbade the clergy of his diocese to concelebrate with the clergy of the Archdiocese of Western European parishes of the Russian tradition, headed by the Archdiocese administrator, Metropolitan of Dubna John Renneto.