The ROC responded to the declaration of Constantinople about primacy in Orthodoxy. Bartholomew constantly talks about the dominion in the church, that someone wants to take this dominion from him, but this is his headache. It is he who wants to be the ruler of the church, – the rector of the Moscow Church of the Life-Giving Trinity on the Sparrow Hills, Archpriest Andrei Novikov, told the newspaper Vzglyad, commenting on the statement of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople about the desire of “Russian brothers to be the rulers of Orthodoxy.”
“The leader of the Patriarchate of Constantinople came to our house, to the territory of the Russian Church, and tried to split our people. It was Bartholomew who legitimized the schismatics who seized part of the dioceses in Ukraine. And at the same time he dumps all the responsibility – for this too – on the “Russian brothers”. Well, as they say, “whoever calls his name is called that himself,” noted Archpriest Andrei Novikov.
“On the whole, the Patriarch of Constantinople claims not only power, but also the primacy of the church. He says that his decisions are not subject to appeal, that he can interfere in the affairs of local churches. Where and when did the Russian Orthodox Church do this? ” – Father Andrey emphasized. The priest noted that the head of the Constantinople Church “came to the territory of the Russian Orthodox Church, declared the existence of the Russian Church on its own territory illegal.”
“Bartholomew is a man devoid of any spiritual foundations, who is not guided by either the canons or dogmas of the church. He thinks exclusively within the framework of an aggressive political ideology. Orthodoxy for him has become simply a word, a term that stands for nothing. This term works to serve his political interests and the interests of the forces behind it,” he said.