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Saturday, January 26, 2019
Report: Orthodox Church of Cyprus to recognize schismatic Ukrainian church
The source is an anti-Russian news site, but they made some specific claims and quotes. I believe the report is credible. It's also not very surprising. I have generally expected that Cyprus and possibly the Greek and Romanian Churches would fall in line with Constantinople. Presumably Moscow will sever communion with Cyprus once this becomes official.
Is St. Herman of Alaska Monastery, Platina, CA schismatic because it went to Serbia rather than to the church that excommunicated it?
ReplyDeleteOne might not approve of the way the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate and the the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church were regularized, or the grant of autocephaly to the church in Ukraine as a whole (not just these churches, mind you), but they are no longer schismatic. Unless, that is, one jumps to the entire EP being graceless heretics. While Orthodoxy is easy to go there, I don't believe that is the position of the vast majority of Orthodox, including most opposed to the EP's rationale for and actions in Ukraine.
Two different situations. When Platina came to the Serbs, Abbot Herman was retired;he remained a simple monk without the right to serve as a priest.
ReplyDeleteIf the EP would have at least demanded the same of Filaret, that would have shown good faith on their part.
I am Catholic and so dont have a dog in this fight. It would be important to remember that until the Soviet era the majority of Ukrainians were since 1596 in communion with Rome. Not to argue about that, my point is that most Ukrainians, except for the eastern border regions, have been Western oriented for most of 400 years. They regard Russian politically and ecclesiastically as imperialistic. Now that Ukraine has politically severed ties with Moscow, it is not right to have Moscow spying by means of clerical ties to the MP. That is the way I see it, anyway. Im sure there is a lot I dont understand. Interested in your response.
ReplyDeleteThat is absolutely false. Only 10% or so of Ukrainians were Greek Catholic. I ought to know .my father came from there. When Poland was partitioned in the late 1700's, the Western part of Ukraine went to Austria. There, the Greek Catholic church survived. In fact, it was because of Orthodoxy, that Ukraine chose to go with Russia. Had the Poles been more tolerant of Orthodoxy, this might not have happened.
DeleteWhat you lot are succeeding in doing is making a strong case for separating the Church from the local state. Say what you like about Romanism, the Pope does reside in an independent state.
ReplyDeleteOk, ok we can talk about the undo influence of Italian cardinals, but the Pope does not officially identify with any one state.