The Eastern Orthodox Church consists of fourteen local Churches that are considered “autocephalous” or self governing. The largest is the Russian Orthodox Church. Other Churches include the Serbian Orthodox Church, Rumanian Orthodox Church, Bulgarian Orthodox Church, and the Georgian Orthodox Church.
Smaller Churches include the Churches of Poland, the Church of the Czecks and Slovaks, and the Albanian Orthodox Church. Several local Churches are formally called Greek Orthodox. The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch however is not Greek but Arabic and has an Arabic Patriarch and Synod and a flock that speaks Arabic.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem has an ethnic Greek Patriarch and most of its bishops are ethnic Greeks. Its flock is overwhelmingly Arab and this is source of major controversy in itself but outside the scope of the subject matter at hand. The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria has an ethnic Greek Patriarch and most of its bishops are ethnic Greeks while its flock throughout Africa is overwhelmingly African.
There are in fact only three Churches calling themselves Greek Orthodox that are in fact Greek by ethnicity. These include the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Orthodox Church of Greece, and the Orthodox Church of Cyprus. And they are all in spiritual turmoil owing to the politicized Patriarchate of his all holiness Bartholomew I of Constantinople.
Some essential facts. The Orthodox Church is conciliar or synodical in its ecclesial structure. Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church does not have one spiritual leader making pronouncements on behalf of the whole Church. The Roman Catholics believe in the infallibility of the Pope. The Orthodox Church accepts the final authority of an ecumenical council in which the universal Church under the authority of the holy spirit makes pronouncements only with the consent and agreement of ALL Churches.
Another fact is that the Orthodox Patriarchs or Primates are equal except in terms of honor. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople holds first place in the dyptychs or list of Orthodox Churches. The Primate of the Church of Constantinople is commemorated first by his fellow primates who then commemorate other primates according to their rank in the dyptychs. The Patriarch of Constantinople is “first among equals” with a “primacy of honor”.
Holding first place in honor does not give the Ecumenical Patriarch any special authority or right to intervene in the affairs of an autocephalous Church. It is this claim that Constantinople has put fourth that has triggered the schism in Orthodoxy. When Patriarch Bartholomew proceeded to grant autocephaly to Ukraine he blatantly violated Orthodox canon law and made a mockery of Orthodox ecclesiology.
Some facts regarding the Ukrainian question. First, Constantinople ceded the Ukrainian Church to the Russian Church through the issuance of a tomos in 1686. Ukraine has ever since been an inviolable part of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Ecumenical Patriarchate has no business in Ukraine and no right to make any pronouncements regarding the status of Ukrainian Orthodoxy.
Constantinople has further transgressed the canons of the Orthodox Church by sidelining the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Patriarch Bartholomew extended “autocephaly” to two sects that are not part of the Orthodox Church. A “unification council” was convened in December 2018 that supposedly created an autocephalous entity calling itself “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (OCU). The “bishops” at this pseudo-council were either formally anathematized by the Russian Orthodox Church or they were never ordained and consecrated by the Orthodox Church.
There are a variety of sects throughout Orthodoxy claiming to be “Orthodox” but are not. These sects that Patriarch Bartholomew recognized are sects, not an Orthodox Church. The situation has gotten more bizarre as the “OCU” suffered a schism soon after its creation. The leader of that schism has subsequently received some old calendar sects in Greece under his omophorion. This entire affair from the beginning has been nothing other than a farce.
There has still not been full documentation of the extent to which secular interests from Ukraine and America worked to provoke the schism. It is a certainty that Kiev and Washington have interfered in internal Church matters to weaken the Russian Orthodox Church as part of its campaign of Russophobia. On the day of this writing, the State Department has accused Russia of using Orthodoxy as a political instrument.
This is laughable considering American intervention not only in the affairs of the Church of Constantinople, but in the affairs of the Church of Greece. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo travelled to Athens in the fall of 2019 to urge Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens to recognize the sect that is the “OCU”. Within the Church of Greece, there was widespread opposition to recognizing the “OCU”. A dozen bishops spoke against recognition citing canon law and Church history.
Theologians, monastics, priests, and laypeople signed a petition that was sent to the holy synod urging it not to recognize the “OCU”. In the end, the cowardly Archbishop of Athens and other bishops chose to recognize the abomination in Ukraine disguising itself as an Orthodox Church. It is to be assumed that the Patriarchate of Alexandria and the Archbishop of Cyprus recognized the “OCU” as a result of pressure from Patriarch Bartholomew and his secular allies in Athens and Washington.
The schism worsened when Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria concelebrated together with the fake primate of the “OCU”. The Russian Church has previously severed communion with Constantinople but maintained communion with some parts of the Churches of Greece and Cyprus in recognition of the fact that there are bishops in those Churches that have been outspoken in their condemnation of the “OCU” and recognize only the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Throughout this entire crisis, the canonical Church in Ukraine has been fiercely persecuted. Their Churches have been seized, clergy and faithful have been the victims of violence, and attempts have been made by Ukrainian authorities to force the canonical Church to change its name. It is a dishonor for Greeks to be associated with the persecution of brother Orthodox Christians, but the primates of Constantinople, Alexandria, Athens, and Nicosia have made Greeks complicit in this persecution.
The Russian Church has proceeded to establish an exarchate in Africa. Whether this was wise or not is unclear. The fact remains that one hundred and two African Orthodox priests asked to be received into the Russian Orthodox Church because they recognize Alexandria has betrayed Orthodoxy by entering into communion with and concelebrating with a sect of anathematized and unordained blasphemers.
Patriarch Theodore had travelled to Ukraine after the crisis in the Church broke out in 2018. He concelebrated the liturgy with canonical bishops and priests and urged the faithful to remain in the canonical Church. Now, in the aftermath of the establishment of the Russian exarchate in Africa he is bitterly insulting and condemning the Russians seemingly unconcerned with his own hypocrisy and cowardice.
One of Patriarch Bartholomew’s bishops in the city of Drama in Greece has expressed anti Russian feelings. The bishops of Constantinople are very clearly motivated by jealousy and resentment. They have betrayed Orthodoxy and the great spiritual heritage of Constantinople.
From a Hellenic point of view, all this nastiness emanating from Greek Patriarchs and bishops is a betrayal of Hellenism as well as Orthodoxy. Those who collaborate with western secular interests against Orthodox Russia have betrayed Christ. They have also betrayed the sovereignty of Greece.
Greek politicians have traditionally betrayed the national interests of Greece. The Patriarchs and their bishops who support them have betrayed the faith of Christ! A much more serious betrayal.
Among the great powers, only Russia has never interfered in Greek domestic affairs or done any harm to Greece. Russophobia is a western obsession. Russophobia and anti Russian sentiments are not compatible with Hellenic interests.
Traditionally, the bishops of Greece have stood up against the Turks, the Nazis, and the Communists. The Greek bishops of our own day succumbed to the State Department! Gone are the days when Archbishop Christodoulos condemned the secularization of Greece and the bombing of Orthodox Serbia. Gone are the days when Archbishop Christodoulos stood up to the Patriarchate’s invasion of the Church of Greece.
The late Archbishop (his memory be eternal) sided with the Russian Church when Patriarch Bartholomew created a crisis in Estonia. What a shame to see how Greek speaking Orthodoxy is faring today. What a disgrace!
