Experts: There are no people for Phanar and Ukrainian power, only territory
UOC believers are not taken as people by Constantinople, for them Ukraine exists only as a territory, which is very similar to the attitude of Ukrainian authorities.
Autocephaly for the Ukrainian authorities is a part of their election campaign, an attempt to present at least some result against the backdrop of zero results. The actions of Constantinople on granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church are blatant lawlessness from the point of view of canonical law, which has aggravated a number of problems that have long had to be reviewed by Universal Orthodoxy. Political expert Elena Dyachenko, and publicist, missionary and theologian Sergey Komarov spoke about it in the author’s program of Ian Taksiur “The Right to Belief”, reports First Cossack Internet channel.
According to experts, the actions of Constantinople and the Ukrainian authorities produce an opposite effect, and this was clearly seen on the day of the Protection of the Mother of God on October 14.
“Those who were present at the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra on the Holy Protection holiday know that there were as many people as during the procession dedicated to the 1030th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus,” emphasized Elena Dyachenko. “The priests are surprised, they say there have never been so many people at this holiday, i.e. people are starting to opt for the UOC.”
At the same time, people were forcibly taken to the “prayer for autocephaly”, which took place on the same day, on a compulsory basis, using the administrative resource.
“Imitation of support for autocephaly, which Constantinople has not yet granted,” said Sergey Komarov. “A kind of a game of the functionaries to cheat their electorate.”
The publicist stressed that the difference between church people and those who celebrated the arrival of still missing autocephaly was enormous: “On this day, church people prayed in their the temples, while in the evening they gathered for a joint service and vigil at the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and prayed for peace in Ukraine, the healing of schism, the salvation of the soul, in general, they prayed for everybody. Those people for whom this issue is considered exclusively in the political plane, drank champagne, shouted something, walked with flags. The quintessence of their position was the phrase of the moderator at the concert in honor of the Protection holiday: “Father Pokrov (means protection, masc. gender in Ukrainian – Ed.), pray to God for us”.
At the same time, according to him, Constantinople shows complete disregard to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which it has always recognized as the only canonical Church in Ukraine, and its believers: “As if Onufry and all UOC believers did not exist, as if we were subhumans.”
“Constantinople does not consider believers of the UOC as people, Ukraine exists for them as a territory, which is very similar to the attitude of the Ukrainian authorities to the LDNR and the Crimea,” the expert emphasized.
Besides, Sergey Komarov noted that the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church did the right thing, having brought to the spotlight of the Ecumenical Orthodoxy problems related to the actions of Constantinople.
“It is worth remembering the conflict of Constantinople with the Russian Church on the basis of the autocephaly of the Polish Church: there was also a break-off of eucharistic communion between the Russian Church and the Polish Church because of Constantinople, other cases are Renovationism, Estonia ... Therefore, a number of problems have accumulated to be addressed. The Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church did the right thing to sharpen and bring to the attention of Ecumenical Orthodoxy, the time has come, it should have been done long ago ... In Constantinople, they are trying to push the papacy into Orthodoxy; one also needs to halt them in this respect.”
