Constantinople: refusal of UOC-MP representatives to engage in dialogue gets them cornered

The representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, at the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Archbishop Job (Getcha) of Telmessos expressed regret that the clerics of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate had refused a dialogue with the representatives of Constantinople, as they thus drived themselves into a deadlock. This was stated by the hierarch in an interview with Glavkom.

“It is a pity that the representatives of the UOC-Moscow Patriarchate are still refusing from the dialogue with representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and other parts of the Ukrainian Churches. The claims about refusal to have  such fraternal encounters and dialogue, blackmailing with the Eucharistic unity and the prohibition of concelebration with the hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate only drive them into a deadlock and further aggravate their canonical position,” he said.

Archbishop Job, at the same time, expressed his hope that this refusal is only temporary.

“I hope that this is only temporary and that our brothers from the UOC-Moscow Patriarchate will understand the falsehood of this way and open their hearts to dialogue and fraternal unity in Christ. Similarly, representatives of other parts of the Ukrainian Churches, which for the various reasons are not in unity with the Universal Orthodoxy. After all, unity in Christ must be our most important goal. Christ Himself proclaimed: "Let all be alone, as you, the Father, in me, and I in you, so there will be one" (John 17:21). And "after that, all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among you" (John 13:35) ", - emphasized the hierarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

As RISU has already reported, on September 7, the Ecumenical Patriarchate appointed two exarchs in Kyiv to prepare for the process of granting autocephaly.

The Russian Orthodox Church called this appointment “an invasion of its canonical territory” and threatened to break the Eucharistic communion.

On September 14, the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to cease participation in structures under the auspices of the Constantinople Patriarchate and commemorate the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew during the Divine Services.

On the same day, the head of the UOC-MP Metropolitan Onufriy, reporting to the participants of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, said that the priests of his Church would not meet exarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Ukraine, because they came here without their blessing.

On September 17, the exarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at a meeting with the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv stated that the process of granting autocephaly of the UOC is a "fait accompli"