Russian Orthodox Church cuts ties with Archbishop of Constantinople in dispute over Ukraine

As reported by Peter Foster and the foreign staff of the London Daily Telegraph, September 15, 2018:

Russia’s Orthodox church has announced it will cut ties with the head of the church in Constantinople in a bitter row over plans to recognise a rival branch in the pro-Western portion of Ukraine.

The Russian renunciation of ties came as Bartholomew I, the Archbishop of Constantinople and de facto head of the Orthodox church’s 300 million Christians, looked set to approve the new Ukrainian church in a serious blow to the authority and prestige of Moscow.

Ahead of the decision, Patriarch Bartholomew sent two representatives to Ukraine this month, sparking fury in Russia where the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, continues to see Ukraine as part of a greater Russia.

In an apparent pre-emptive move against Bartholmew’s impending recognition, the Russian Orthodox Church said on Friday it would no longer conduct joint services with the Patriarchate of Constantinople and its own Patriarch, Kirill, will stop mentioning Bartholomew I in his prayers.

"Essentially this is a breakdown of relations. To take an example from secular life, the decision is roughly equivalent to cutting diplomatic ties," the Russian Church's Metropolitan Hilarion was quoted by RIA news agency as saying.

Patriarch Kirill, who is seen as a strong ally of President Vladimir Putin, wants to prevent pro-Western Ukraine from getting an independent church.

The Orthodox church in Ukraine is split between a branch whose clerics pledge loyalty to Moscow and one that is overseen by the unrecognised Kiev-based Patriarch Filaret.

The split has deepened following the Russian annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of a separatist uprising in Ukraine's east in 2014.

The Kiev Patriarchate's leader has been sharply critical of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, and in 2014 suggested he was possessed by Satan.

The rival Moscow Patriarchate vies for influence in Ukraine with the Kiev Patriarchate - a branch of the Orthodox Church that broke away from Moscow in 1992 after the fall of the Soviet Union - and with other Orthodox and Catholic denominations.

Bartholomew I, known as Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, is regarded as the "first among equals" of the world's Orthodox Christian believers.

The Moscow Patriarchate, the legal term for the Russian Orthodox Church has a sizeable following in Ukraine.

Kiev considers it a tool for the Kremlin to wield influence, while the Moscow Patriarchate sees itself as the only legitimate Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said it was following the situation closely and opposed any split in Orthodoxy, adding that the state should not intervene in church matters.

"Of course for Moscow and indeed for the entire Orthodox world the single preferable scenario is the preservation of unity of this Orthodox world," said a Kremlin spokesman.

October 17, 2018 update: As reported by the Daily Telegraph, October 15, 2018 (link in original):

The Russian Orthodox Church said Monday it is breaking ties with the Constantinople Patriarchate over its decision to grant independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which Moscow does not recognise.

"A decision has been made to rupture full communion with the Constantinople Patriarchate," which means priests from the two churches cannot serve and worshippers cannot take communion together, Hilarion, the bishop in charge of the Russian Orthodox Church's diplomacy, told journalists in Minsk.

Speaking after the meeting of the Holy Synod, or decision-making body, of the Russian Orthodox Church, Hilarion said it does not recognise the decision taken last week by the Constantinople Patriarchate as it has "completely associated itself with the schism".

Moscow considers the Filaret, the Patriarch of Kiev, to be a schismatic, a decision Constantinople has backed since the 1990s but reversed last week amid the drive by Ukraine for its own Orthodox Church independent from Moscow.

The Constantinople Patriarchate, a leading Orthodox authority, also overruled its own decision from the 17th century which adjoined Kievan Orthodox churches to Moscow.

Most of the Orthodox parishes in Ukraine have historically been under the umbrella of the Moscow Patriarchate, and many of these may eventually switch to the new independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, despite Moscow's warnings.

Hilarion said Constantinople's decision to back a schismatic church effectively drives it into a schism. "We cannot be in communication with this church, which is in a schism," he said. "We hope that common sense prevails and that the Constantinople Patriarchate changes its mind."

The decision in Istanbul was "illegal and canonically worthless," he said. "The Russian Orthodox Church does not accept these decisions, it will not follow them. The schism is still a schism and the schismatics are still schismatics," he said.

The church in Ukraine has been under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church since the late 1600s, but calls for independence have increased since Moscow's 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.

As reported by Deutsche Welle, October 17, 2018 (links in original):

A push to establish an independent Ukrainian Orthodox church has also prompted Russian Orthodox bishops in Germany to "temporarily" quit a joint episcopate council. Their departure follows patriarchal orders from Moscow.

The Russian Orthodox Church's three bishops in Germany have "temporarily" ceased work within the Orthodox Bishops Conference in Germany (OBKD), a spokesman for the bishops told Catholic KNA news agency on Tuesday.

The OBKD, based in Bonn and led by Greek Metropolitan Augoustinos, was founded in 2010. It brings together bishops of seven Orthodox churches, comprising some 2 million Orthodox Christians in Germany.

KNA quoted Archbishop Mark, who leads the Russian bishops, as saying the conference cessation was "very painful, but we could not even indirectly endorse what is being done against Orthodoxy in the Ukraine and Russia."

On Monday, the Russian Orthodox Church synod broke ties with the Istanbul [Constantinople]-based Ecumenical Patriarchate, describing its recent decision on Ukraine as "lawless."

Traditionally, Constantinople heads Orthodox Christianity's 250 million believers across 15 autocephalic [self-governing] regions. The Orthodox Church is Christianity's third largest grouping after Roman Catholics and Protestants.

Constantinople, led by Patriarch Bartholomeus I, last week dropped its rejection of Ukraine's efforts to split from the Russian Orthodox Church and began recognition proceedings for a Ukrainian Orthodox church independent of Moscow, likely to be led by Kiev Patriarch Filaret.

If finalized, it would challenge Russian Orthodox jurisdiction and dominance in Ukraine that dates back more than three centuries. The Russian church also owns property in the country such as the Lavra monastery in Kyiv.

Ukrainian calls for church independence have grown since the 2013-2014 Maidan uprising in Kyiv and Moscow's 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.

Backing those calls has been Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who is seeking re-election next March. On Sunday, he said any believer would "choose his own path to God," but added it was "an issue of Ukrainian independence."

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has ties with Russian Orthodox head, Patriarch Kirill, said on Tuesday that the Kremlin was watching developments "very carefully and with a great deal of worry."

OBKD German conference head Greek Metropolitan Augoustinos told Germany's Protestant epd news agency on Tuesday that despite the crisis, good relations among Orthodox congregations in Germany were likely to prevail.

Serbian Patriarch Irinej said: "We don't think in terms of 'for' and 'against'."

Petra Bosse-Huber, foreign-relations bishop for the combined Protestant EKD churches in Germany, described the crisis as an "inner-Orthodox matter" on which the Protestants could neither adjudicate nor intervene.

Bosse-Huber added that during the past 100 years of joint ecumenical efforts, there had been numerous autocephalic disputes among "our Orthodox sister churches."