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10 September 2018, 14:13Russian Orthodox Church urges Constantinople not to substitute canonical logic with political one
Moscow, September 10, Interfax - There are no canonical grounds for setting up a "unified local church" in Ukraine, and these plans are dictated solely by personal ambitions and politics, Vladimir Legoyda, head of the Synodal Department for Church, Society and Media Relations, said on Monday.
Speaking on the NTV television channel, Legoyda described the situation as "an attempt to substitute canonical logic with political logic."
"If you look at the map of world Orthodoxy, you'll see that there are not only national Churches there but also Churches unifying believes in various countries. Why break this unity, why break the unity of our brotherly nations - and many believe this is one nation? It's absolutely incomprehensible. There are no essential canonical grounds for this - only personal ambitions and politics," Legoyda said.
These two motives are precisely what people "asking for so-called autocephaly" are being guided by, he said.
Legoyda said he hoped Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew "will follow different principles."
A local and independent Church that "doesn't depend on Moscow in any way" already exists in Ukraine - it's the Ukrainian Orthodox Church unifying millions of people, Legoyda said. "This Church enjoys broad autonomy rights, this is a Church having its own primate, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry. All the rest is political logic," he said. |
