Archbishop Job (Getcha) of Telmessos of the Constantinople Patriarchate explained what the leaders of the Orthodox Churches of Alexandria and Poland meant when talking about overcoming of Church differences through autocephaly. An exclusive commentary from the hierarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate was received by Cerkvarium.

“I understand that the statement explicitly refers to autocephaly and establishment of the canonical order in church life in Ukraine. That is, the separation in Ukraine requires an introduction of the ecclesiastical order. Only the provision of autocephaly can solve this problem,” he said.

According to the hierarch, it is not about condemnation or non-recognition of Ukrainian autocephaly, but that everything proceeded in a peaceful, canonical and orderly manner.

As RISU has reported, Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and the whole of Poland, drafted an appeal in which in a diplomatic form they called to avoiding conflicts in connection with the introduction of autocephaly in Ukraine and expressed their desire that the ecclesiastical canonical order was not violated.

“In the spirit of fraternal love, we call on all those on whom depends the overcoming of church misunderstandings related to the provision of autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church: we entreat you to do whatever depends on you, to avoid the conflict on this issue and to establish ecclesiastical order on the Ukrainian land,” the authors of the document emphasize.