Department for External Church Relations
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Metropolitan Hilarion: By Accusing the Russian Church, Patriarch Bartholomew tries to justify his anti-canonical acts
In his interview to one of the Georgian TV channels Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople hurled harsh and ungrounded accusations at the Russian Orthodox Church. Analysing these contentions at a request from the Church and the World program presenter Ms E. Gracheva, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk stated, “Regrettably, Patriarch Bartholomew tends to say ever more frequently the things that do not correspond to reality, he is either not competent in matters he is discussing or consciously says a lie. Or his advisers may present to him information that does not correspond to reality.
His Eminence cited an assertion made by Patriarch Bartholomew in an interview alleging that the Russian Orthodox Church has a bishop in Abkhazia. “This is not the case. Look at the calendar of the Russian Church and you will see that we have no bishop in Abkhazia, not on paper or in reality. None of the Russian bishops, as far as I am aware, has even appeared in Abkhazia for many recent years. Why to say a lie that so easily can be refuted by facts?” the DECR chairman said.
“The Russian Orthodox Church has repeatedly underlined on the official level that she respects the integrity of the canonical territory of the Georgian Orthodox Church”, His Eminence said, “Any attempt to accuse us of interference in the affairs of the Georgian Church is a lie”.
More often than not, the arguments used are literary spun out of thin air, the hierarch emphasized. Thus, added to their armory is even such a topic of the remote history as the concept of ‘Moscow is the third Rome’ formulated in the early 16th century. “By the way, this theory was voiced by Patriarchs of Constantinople in their time but for us it is in no way valid or relevant”, the archpastor reminded the audience.
As Metropolitan Hilarion pointed out, “Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople has made a grave mistake by giving autocephaly to the schismatics in Ukraine and now is searching for arguments to justify his lawless and anticanonical act”.
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