Ukrainian Orthodox Christians have begun holding protests in Kiev against Patriarch Bartholomew. They have many legitimate reasons to protest. Patriarch Bartholomew transgressed Canon Law by intervening in the canonical territory of the Russian Church, by attempting to restore defrocked and disgraced bishops that were anathematized by the Moscow Patriarchate, and establishing communion with a group of laypeople masquerading as bishops and priests.
As a result of this intervention in Ukraine, violence has increased against the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The people of God in Ukraine have legitimate grievances against Patriarch Bartholomew and are right to protest. It is rather sad to see how the Patriarch has estranged and offended Orthodox Christians not only in Ukraine but throughout the world.
There was a time when one might have hoped that Orthodox Christians worldwide might have demonstrated on behalf of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and its difficulties in Turkey. That is a scenario that has long faded into fantasy. No Orthodox Christian outside the Greek speaking world cares about the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate not long ago was an oppressed Church in Constantinople. The key word being “was”. The Patriarchate has now become so entangled with the State Department’s anti Russian foreign policy it is impossible for anyone to look past the devastation that has been wrought on Orthodoxy over the past two years.
The oppressed has become the oppressor. Patriarch Bartholomew is complicit in the persecution of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine and the schism between the Greek and non Greek Churches. He is also responsible for the divisions that have broken out among the Churches of Greece, Cyprus, and the Monastics on Mount Athos. It is important also to note that Patriarch Bartholomew’s extremism did not begin in Ukraine.
There were signs from time to time that Patriarch Bartholomew was interested wholly and entirely in power. When four Russian Monks on Mount Athos in 1992 refused to commemorate the Patriarch in the liturgy, they were brutally expelled from the Holy Mountain. During the 1990’s, the would be Turkish Pope used the Greek Police as his own personal enforcers to attempt to drive out the dissenting Monks of Esphigmenou Monastery on Mount Athos.
In 2006, Patriarch Bartholomew sent a group of Monks to forcibly evict the brotherhood of Monks that was already residing within the Esphigmenou Monastery. This resulted in an appalling and scandalous brawl between the two groups of Monks. The Monks protested Patriarch Bartholomew’s pro ecumenist policies by refusing to commemorate him during the divine liturgy. The same Greek government that eagerly embraced the atheism and secularism of the European Union by trying to remove Orthodoxy from public schools had no problem putting its Police force at the disposal of the Patriarch.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate has reverted back to the Ottoman era. Perhaps this is appropriately so considering that President Erdogan seeks a restoration of the Ottoman Empire. During the Ottoman era, there was a rivalry between the Greek and Slavic Monks on Mount Athos. These old wounds have been reopened as a result of Patriarch Bartholomew’s intervention in Ukraine and his alliance with Washington.
It is very hard to envision any of this resulting in a happy ending the longer the Church crisis drags on. If there be any illusions about Patriarch Bartholomew at this point, one has only to look at the scandals and financial mess that is the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Orthodox Christians everywhere should support the Ukrainian protesters in Kiev who are defending the faith against their own wicked government and its accomplices at the Phanar and in Washington.