The DECR Communications Service of the Russian Orthodox Church stated that the brutal pressure of world political forces on the Orthodox Church around the world and the desire of the Phanar to act unilaterally in Ukraine – against the will and protests of other Local Churches – led to that deep division in the Orthodox world. This is stated in the cossentary in connection with the statement of Patriarch Bartholomew, made by him on December 9, 2022 in Abu Dhabi at the Conference on world politics “For a reasonably oren world”, the website of the Moscow Patriarchate reports.

The ROC noted that the speech of the Primate of Constantinople did not say a word about the persecution of the UOC by the Ukrainian authorities.

“Meanwhile, Ukrainian politicians and officials directly refer to the Tomos of the Patriarch of Constantinople as a basis for persecution and a complete ban on the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Moreover, the hierarchs of the Phanar publicly support the persecution in Ukraine, hypocritically calling them “purification and renewal of Ukrainian Orthodoxy,” the document says.

“We have to state with regret that even now the Primate of Constantinople only supports and deepens this division. He not only makes attempts to indirectly accuse the Russian Orthodox Church of some “mistakes”, “heresies”, deviation from canons and dogmas, but also in an insulting tone comments on the position of all the Local Orthodox Churches that did not take the Phanar’s side on the Ukrainian church issue, ”- says in the document.