Претражи Живе Речи Утехе

The Primate of the Alexandrian Church, Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and All Africa, in his interview to the newspaper “Ethnos”, for the first time takes a stand on the issue of granting Autocephaly to Ukraine. Speaking about the attitude of the Archdiocese of Alexandria on the issue of the Autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church, the Patriarch of Alexandria has clearly pointed out that he has lived the pain and schism of the Ukrainian Church, but he knows very well “the Russian Church as well, because I was nurtured there for ten years and the Patriarchate of Alexandria has emotional bonds with it”. He acknowledges, however, that there is a huge problem, that of the Autocephaly, which “Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew had the right to grant” but he clarifies that what has divided the Churches is the people who took the status of Autocephaly. He revealed the initiative of Archbishop of Cyprus to meet with the Ecumenical Patriarch so as to ask for a meeting between Bartholomew, himself and the Patriarch Kyrill of Moscow. “Every problem has its solution. Our Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is the Patriarch of Romiosyne, who we all respect and love. Do not forget that this issue is not a dogmatic one. There is a solution to the issue of Autocephaly”. He also added that there will soon be a new meeting in Nicosia with the participation of the Patriarchates of Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria and the Church of Cyprus. “I think a solution can be found, if we let aside our personal issues and consider the interest of the Church” he characteristically said. For the new Archbishop of Australia, Makarios, he stresses that “I know him since a kid, I love and appreciate him. I am glad that Elpidophoros is going to America, and that in France there is another Archpriest from Crete, Emmanuel”. With regard to his work on the African continent, Theodoros stresses that the biggest challenge he faces in performing his duties is poverty: “Man is no longer happy; there are no smiles and joy anymore. Today affluence is an end in itself, so I see sad faces. However, in my own field of action, which is mainly Black Continent, I do meet happy people”. https://www.romfea.news/patriarch-of-alexandria-there-is-a-solution-to-the-issue-of-autocephaly-of-ukraine/?fbclid=IwAR00B2TPNUMIQ09D2DQartYny0ioiGv88fmlrbBkZNbpBlm76CdOmNK4dlk#utm_source=fb&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=15.6.patriarch-of-alexandria-there-is-a-solution-to-the-issue-of-autocephaly-of-ukraine&utm_term=15.6.patriarch-of-alexandria-there-is-a-solution-to-the-issue-of-autocephaly-of-ukraine

The ongoing Church problem in Ukraine should be solved by all Local Churches together, not each unilaterally, His Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus said in an interview with Romfea in Athens yesterday. Asked whether he thought the Greek Church would be the first to recognize the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” Abp. Chrysostomos underlined that “a unilateral decision would not be helpful, and the result would be what I feared. I also could have made a decision in favor of one or another, but I find this to be wrong. That’s why we did not do it.” Meanwhile, the schismatics openly expect the Greek Church to be among the first to recognize them, and an archimandrite from the Greek Church, Epiphany (Dimitriou) will be consecrated as a bishop of the schismatic church this weekend, the Union of Orthodox Journalists learned. The Cypriot Holy Synod issued a statement on the Ukrainian problem in which they criticized the Russian Church’s’ breaking of communion with Constantinople but also expressed serious reservations about the Ukrainian schismatics being received by Constantinople without them being canonically ordained. He also considers it fair and just that none of the other Local Churches have taken a position in favor of either Constantinople or Moscow. Otherwise “we would have a definite schism, with mathematical precision,” Abp. Chrysostomos added. It is notable that he does not accuse any of the Churches of deciding in favor of Moscow, as Greek and Ukrainian media widely accuses the Serbian, Polish, Czech-Slovak, and Antiochian Churches of siding with Moscow for political reasons. His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia and His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa of Poland, however, have emphasized that their decisions to not accept the Ukrainian schismatics are based solely in the canonical tradition of the Church. All parties involved need to think only about the good of the Church, not about personal interests, the Cypriot primate emphasized. “The Church is one, and we must all help to raise it up. We must cherish Orthodoxy as the apple of our eye,” he said. Abp. Chrysostomos has taken up the role of mediator between the Churches, in lieu of Patriarch Bartholomew, visiting the primates of the fraternal Local Churches in order to coordinate and find a real solution to the crisis facing the Church. He noted in his interview that his recent visits with the primates of the Serbian, Bulgarian, and Greek Churches went well and were undertaken with the blessing of Pat. Bartholomew. In his view, Moscow and Constantinople do not need to enter into dialogue together alone, but that all the Churches will enter into dialogue when the right time comes, which he is trying to facilitate. He also explained that the idea to visit the other primates arose in conversation with His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Albania, who cannot accompany him due to eye problems and the pressure he is under. Abp. Chrysostomos also reported that His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, will visit him in Cyprus next week. “I do not know what he wants, but be sure that I will answer him directly,” the Archbishop emphasized. In conclusion, Abp. Chrysostomos said he is confident that God will bless the Church’s work in solving the problem, undertaken with faith and love and for the interest of the Church as a whole. http://orthochristian.com/121349.html?fbclid=IwAR2XaMkBNSinAtAnoCrdwubiTMOc2Q2MVd3FyyqF5TwjQELY_P2fs50q7f4

MOSCOW – Top ranking SBU (Ukrainian Security Service) agent in charge of the ATO operation through 2014 when the operation commenced, Vasily Prozorov, has just made some stunning statements to international media, and has recently escaped to Russia. Moreover, without exaggeration, this is a major blow to the foreign policy positions of Kiev. It is also a very weighty argument for those forces in Europe who want to quickly move the peace process in Ukraine from its present stalemate. In speaking to journalists, Prozorov’s presentation can be summarized with these points: – Kiev from the very beginning did not plan to resolve the conflict in the south-east of Ukraine by peaceful means – Kiev initially planned a large number of victims among the population of Donbass, then they wanted to declare them accomplices of terrorists – In the area of the ATO there are Ukrainian secret prisons (as he called them concentration camps) – The neo nazi Azov unit also had its secret prisons. This is not Russian propaganda, people were actually killed there. – Specialists from the USA and the UK prepared a division of the SBU (Department No. 5) who went to train in the US and abroad to organize terrorist attacks and sabotage in Donbass – The Ukrainian side was involved in the Boeing crash of the MH17 flight The Ukrainian side was involved in the MH17 flight disaster over Donbass, a former officer of the Ukrainian security service SBU, Vasily Prozorov, told a news conference on Monday. “It is my personal opinion and it relies on certain information. The Ukrainian side is an accomplice to the Malaysian MH17 flight disaster,” he said. “The amazingly prompt reaction of the Ukrainian leadership was the first thing that made me feel suspicious. My unequivocal opinion was President Pyotr Poroshenko and his press-service had prior knowledge of the affair. Secondly, hostilities had been underway for several months by then, but the airspace over the area was not closed,” Prozorov said. In particular he emphasized the invariable response to all of his attempts to find out the circumstances of the disaster, for instance, a conversation with General Staff officers. The usual reply was: “Don’t poke your nose into this business, if you don’t wish to have problems.” “Some information has leaked out in the end, though. On the basis of my own analysis I can speculate who was an accomplice in the crime and who was involved in concealing evidence. In my opinion, there were two men involved – the current deputy chief of the Ukrainian presidential staff Valery Kondratyuk and chief of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s intelligence directorate, Vasily Burba.” A passenger liner Boeing-777 of the Malaysia Airlines (Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur) disappeared from the radar screens over the east of Ukraine’s Donetsk Region on July 17, 2014. Its crash killed all 298 passengers and crew on board – citizens of ten countries. Although hostilities had been underway on the ground for quite some time by then Kiev failed to close the Donbass airspace to international passenger flights. Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine created a Joint Investigation Team. On May 24 last year it published an interim report to claim that the missile launcher which had fired the missile that downed the plane might have been brought from Russia’s 53rd air defense missile brigade. https://www.fort-russ.com/2019/03/breaking-ukrainian-security-boss-admits-ukraine-shot-down-mh-17-planned-ethnic-genocide-in-donbass/

A special statement on the situation in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was adopted by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church at its session yesterday, reports the press service of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Synod again notes the lamentable situation of increased persecution that has arisen in Ukraine thanks to Constantinople’s interference in Church life there, and calls upon the other Local Orthodox Churches to support their suffering brethren and the Ukrainian authorities to cease its persecutions. The statement reads in full: The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church notes with deep concern the sharp deterioration of the situation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The granting by the Patriarchate of Constantinople of a “tomos of autocephaly” to the so-called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” artificially created by the merger of two schismatic organizations, further strengthened the division between the Orthodox of Ukraine and significantly exacerbated inter-confessional relations. Of particular concern is the gross interference of the state authorities of Ukraine in the internal Church life and attempts by politicians to use the Church in opportunistic interests. At the same time, the fundamental rights and human freedoms enshrined in the Ukrainian constitution are flagrantly trampled upon. Discriminatory laws have been adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and entered into force, the purpose of which is to deprive the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of its name and to legalize the seizure of its churches and monasteries. The faithful of the canonical Church are also stricken in other rights: Its clergy are deprived of the opportunity to meaningfully nourish soldiers, law enforcement officers, and prisoners. It is becomingly increasingly clear that the aim of the representatives of the current state powers is the liquidation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The local authorities and law enforcement agencies were given recommendations to maximally facilitate the transfer of Ukrainian Orthodox Church communities into schism. There are threats of taking the largest monasteries and historical holy sites from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church—the Kiev Caves Lavra and the Pochaev Lavra. The majority of cases of churches being taken from their religious communities happen contrary to their decisions to remain in the canonical Church. The decision of the religious community is replaced by the vote of a general assembly of citizens who most often are not members of the parish of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The minutes of such meetings are immediately approved by the authorities, after which the church is seized with the assistance of security forces. This lawlessness has led to a surge of violence against the clergy and faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Despite the assurances of the leadership of Ukraine and the Patriarchate of Constantinople about the peaceful character of the so-called “unification of Ukrainian Orthodox,” dozens of churches have been seized by breaking in, with the support of paramilitary groups, often with the beating of priests and the faithful of the canonical Church, trying to defend their holy sites. Dozens of communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are forced to gather for prayer in private homes or on the street. In this difficult situation, we call upon all faithful children of the Russian Orthodox Church to strengthen their prayers for their suffering brothers in Ukraine, that they might be granted courage and Christian patience in their stand for holy Orthodoxy. We appeal to the state authorities of Ukraine with a call to cease the persecution against their own citizens who do not want to join the schism. We entreat our fraternal Local Orthodox Churches to prayerfully support the persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox Church, headed by Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine. We call upon the global community to be attentive to the blatant facts of the violation of human rights and to give a proper assessment to the gross interference of the Ukrainian state in the affairs of the Church. http://orthochristian.com/119594.html?fbclid=IwAR0xGOfJ1c2xiEy1AdwdFL2vEFeyekljeTxzXJLY-bk5QJqGyQ48qS_iqzY

Constantinople, July 3, 2018 In a move that is sure to ruffle some feathers, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople has declared that the Ukrainian Church is, in fact, still within his canonical jurisdiction. The patriarch again broached the topic of the ongoing schism in Ukrainian Orthodoxy in an address following the 40-day memorial for Metropolitan Evangelos of Perge on Sunday, July 1, 2018, at the Patriarchal Church of St. George in Constantinople, emphasizing the patriarchate’s desire to heal the schism. As the website of the Ecumenical Patriarchate reports, Pat. Bartholomew began by stating his desire to see the problems in Ukraine come to a peaceable conclusion, given Constantinople’s historical role as the Mother Church for Kievan Rus’: “For, as the Mother Church, it is reasonable to desire the restoration of unity for the divided ecclesiastical body in Ukraine, a faithful population of tens of millions, baptized and enlightened directly through the providence and missionary activity of our Ecumenical Throne.” His All-Holiness has expressed such a sentiment in the past, and all Churches are in agreement with the historical role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the desire to overcome the schism. However, the patriarch stepped into controversial territory when he declared that the Ukrainian Church actually belongs to his canonical jurisdiction even today: Let us not forget that Constantinople never ceded the territory of Ukraine to anyone by means of some ecclesiastical Act, but only granted to the Patriarch of Moscow the right of ordination or transfer of the Metropolitan of Kiev on the condition that the Metropolitan of Kiev should be elected by a Clergy-Laity Congress and commemorate the Ecumenical Patriarch. As evidence, he pointed to the tomos of autocephaly given to the Polish Orthodox Church in 1924 by the Ecumenical Patriarchate which states that the separation of the Metropolitanate of Kiev from the Ecumenical Throne “in no way occurred according to the binding canonical regulations.” His assertion is interesting, given that the patriarch recently told a delegation from the canonical Ukrainian Church that he wants to help, but not to interfere in the affairs of another Local Church. That Ukraine belongs to Constantinople is sure to come as a surprise to the Ukrainian Church itself, which recently stated that it is perfectly capable of carrying out its evangelical mission as an autonomous body within the Moscow Patriarchate, and to the Russian Church, which has been the spiritual home of the Ukrainian Church since 1685. Moreover, the Russian Church had already rejected such claims when His Eminence Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon presented the theory at the recent meeting between hierarchs of Ukraine and Constantinople. Addressing the Ukrainian delegation at the June 21 meeting in Constantinople, Met. John put forth the theory that Kiev was never truly transferred to the Russian Church, and that the relationship they did have was temporary in nature, as Interfax-Religion reports. His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk has responded that there is no documentary evidence for such a claim: We have recently done a lot of work in the archives and have found all the available documentation of these events—900 pages of documents in both Greek and Russian. They absolutely clearly show that the Metropolitanate of Kiev was included in the composition of the Moscow Patriarchate by decision of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and that a temporary nature to this decision is nowhere stipulated; no timeframe was set. Met. Hilarion added that the Patriarchate of Constantinople has never challenged Kiev’s inclusion in the Russian Church over the past 300 years. He also noted that the territory of the Metropolitanate of Kiev was much smaller at the time that it was transferred from Constantinople to Moscow, including neither Odessa, nor Donetsk, nor Crimea. “Accordingly, the current Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is a completely different territory than the one that was then appended.” Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Ukraine’s two schismatic bodies await a response to their appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarchate for a tomos of autocephaly for a Local Ukrainian Church. http://orthochristian.com/114119.html

The patriarch was added to a government-backed doxing website after referring to nationalist politicians as enemies of all Slavs. In a tit for tat move, the Ukrainian government has added the patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church to its doxing website “Mirotvorets” (“Peacemaker”), labeling him an “enemy of Ukraine.” It seems Ukrainian nationalistic politicians and religious schismatics didn’t appreciate that he referred to them as enemies of all Slavic peoples, as The Duran previously reported. Mirotvorets styles itself the online presence of the Center for Research of Signs of Crimes against the National Security of Ukraine, Peace, Humanity, and the International Law. It proclaims that it provides “information for law enforcement authorities and special services about pro-Russian terrorists, separatists, mercenaries, war criminals, and murderers.” “Anyone who helps the Ukrainian schismatics is an enemy not only of the Russian Church and the Russian world, but also of all Orthodox Slavic nations and the entire Orthodox world,” His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia declared while receiving an award from the International Public Foundation for the Unity of Orthodox Peoples on May 23 at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. The patriarch was referring to President Petro Poroshenko’s recent encroachment into Church life in Ukraine, wherein he appealed to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople to grant an independent and canonical status to a new Ukrainian Church that would be an amalgamation of the nation’s two schismatic ecclesial bodies. His appeal was sent with the backing of the Verkhovna Rada and the hierarchs of the unrecognized “Kiev Patriarchate” and “Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.” The canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a self-governing part of the Russian Orthodox Church, does not back the bid to legitimize the schismatics who are helping to drive violent wedges into Ukrainian society. The “peaceful” nationalists For example, as orthochristian.com reports, the self-proclaimed “Patriarch” Philaret Denisenko of the “Kiev Patriarchate,” the darling of all Ukrainian nationalists, publicly preached in November 2016 that Donbass residents affected by the ongoing conflict there are to blame for their afflictions, due to their “sin of federalization,” and deserve to die: Meanwhile, Metropolitan Vladimir of Pochaev, the abbot of the historic Pochaev Lavra, has been added to Peacemaker as an enemy of Ukraine for calling for believers to “convince not by force of arms, but by the power of words.” “Peacemaker” indeed… Whereas Patriarch Irinej of Serbia was focusing on the unity of the Orthodox faith that itself has been a central point of union between Slavic peoples for over a millennium, the Ukrainian government’s response demonstrates a focus on the Ukrainian nationalistic ideology that, in fact, divides the Ukrainian people from their Slavic brothers, and indeed, from themselves. It is ironic that the government’s site is entitled “Peacemaker,” given that Ukrainian nationalism and the politicians who tout it are often backed by violent terrorist groups such as “C-14” and “The Right Sector,” whose members aren’t afraid to preach their ideology with their fists, or worse. They often turn on their Ukrainian brothers and sisters, attacking the clergy and faithful of the canonical Church, and seizing or destroying their parishes. Governmental ties While the site declares the Mirotvorets Center to be an independent NGO, it isn’t hard to establish the many links. The site was launched in December 2014 by politician and activist George Tuka, as he announced on his Facebook page. Tuka served as the governor of the Luganks Oblast from 2015-2016, and has served as Deputy Minister for the Ukrainian Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and IDPs since April 2016. The Mirotvorets Center is led by Roman Zaitsev, a former employee of the Lugansk branch of the Security Service of Ukraine. Further, the site is curated by the Security Service of Ukraine and promoted by Anton Gerashchenko, an MP and aide to the Interior Minister, according to the International Business Times. Russophobia It is sadly typical that the Serbian patriarch would be lumped in with “pro-Russian terrorists” and deemed a danger to Ukraine’s national security for his views on Ukrainian-nationalism-fueled religion. If you’re not gung-ho about Ukrainian schismatics being legitimized overnight, just so they can be separate from the Russians they so hate, you must be under the evil sway of the evil Kremlin! The Ukrainians can’t see any other way to process the patriarch’s words. They can’t seem to fathom that his focus is on something other—on the unity of the Church and its people. Patriarch Irinej’s entry on Mirotvorets identifies him as an “Anti-Ukrainian propagandist,” and an “adversary of the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the Russian-controlled (an aggressor country) Russian Orthodox Church.” He has been given the honor of an entry on the site for “Inciting international and inter-confessional strife.” Also included is his birth name, birthdate, his position as patriarch of the Serbian Church, the date of his election to the primatial throne, and the full text of his offending quote. In a sense, he is lucky—much more sensitive information has been publicized on the site about other people. Mirotvoret’s bloody history Ukrainian author Oles Buzina and former Verkhovna Rada Deputy Oleg Kalashnikov were assassinated just days after the site published their home addresses in April 2015. Site founder Tuka responded, And, as orthochristian.com reports, RT notes that it wasn’t fringe journalists who had their information exposed, but rather, Several of the journalists began receiving threats via phone and email after the site went public with their personal information. Anton Gerashchenko, an MP, aide to the Interior Minister, and high-ranking Mirotvorets supporter has called for the leaking of the personal data of Russian soldiers fighting in Syria so that ISIS could find and kill them. He has also compared modern-day Russia to Nazis and communists, praising the “patriot hackers” for exposing “a powerful propaganda machine that has an impact on par with the propaganda by [Nazi Germany’s] Goebbels or Stalin.” And it all comes full circle when we learn that, in return for demonizing anyone who stands in the way of the illegitimate legitimizing of religious schismatics, Mirotvorets has been given high praise by the likes of “Patriarch” Philaret himself. Congratulating and “blessing” the team behind the site on Counter-Intelligence Day, December 27, 2017, he bestowed a medal “For the sacrifice and love for Ukraine” upon them. It remains to be seen if, how, and when Patriarch Irinej will respond to his inclusion on the doxing website. But then again, it’s hard to imagine that it’s something worth the hierarch’s time. After all, it’s hard to take such things seriously, when you read that Steven Seagal is also considered a threat to Ukrainian national security… http://theduran.com/ukraine-calls-head-of-serbian-church-as-enemy-of-ukraine/