Celebrations are due to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the enthronement of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. Tragically, there is nothing for any Orthodox Christian to celebrate. On this anniversary, the Orthodox Church faces a schism that could very well become permanent and irreversible. The tenure of Patriarch Bartholomew that began promisingly will end in the total destruction of Orthodox unity, the destruction of the Greek speaking Churches and Mount Athos, and the destruction of the Church of Constantinople itself.
In March 1992, only a few months after becoming Patriarch, Bartholomew presides over a rare gathering of Orthodox primates in Constantinople. Only the Archbishop of Cyprus and the the Georgian Patriarch were absent. The Churches at the time agreed by consensus to terminate all discussions with the Vatican except on the matter of the Uniates (so called “Eastern Catholics”). This was the period when the Soviet Union collapsed and the opportunity to establish real Orthodox unity was at hand.
The primates that met in Constantinople did so under the Presidency of Patriarch Bartholomew in his capacity as “first among equals”. In 1993, Patriarch Bartholomew visited Russia where he was well received. What could have been?
By 1995, Patriarch Bartholomew alienated the Russian Church by establishing a parallel jurisdiction in Estonia. In 2003, Patriarch Bartholomew provoked a reaction from Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens when he began meddling inside the Church of Greece. These were the warning signs of what would come later in Ukraine.
Patriarch Bartholomew had his moments when he concelebrated the liturgy in the long abandoned monasteries and Churches of Trebizond and Cappadocia. He forgot that Russian Church hierarchs were with him when he celebrated the liturgy in those holy places. The Patriarchal reign of Patriarch Bartholomew is a disastrous failure.
In addition to the Ukrainian mess that the Phanar created, the Patriarchate has presided over the destruction of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. Everything is in ruins! Patriarch Bartholomew has also harmed the Monasteries of Athos and the Church of Greece by making them accomplices to the ecclesiastical crimes in Ukraine.
Patriarch Bartholomew has attempted to hide behind the Greek flag. Greek and non Greek Orthodox are all mistaken if they believe the Patriarch cares about Greece. The appearance of Archbishop Elpidophoros at the Turkish center alongside the ethnic cleansers who preside over the occupation of Cyprus demonstrates how much the Patriarchate cares about Greeks.
For the hierarchs serving Constantinople’s uncanonical expansionism, Greece and Cyprus are useful as weapons in their anti Russian campaign. Beyond that, the Ecumenical Patriarch and his exarch in America have no use for Greece or Cyprus. It is a tragedy that so many Greeks support Patriarch Bartholomew uncritically.
It should be remembered that Patriarch Kyril of Moscow and Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev (the real bishop of Ukraine) congratulated Greece on independence day last March. Guess who did not not? The Ecumenical Patriarch did not.
Patriarch Bartholomew’s primary purpose thirty years ago was to open the theological school of Halki. If he had stuck to fighting for the Patriarchate in Turkey, things might be well today in Orthodoxy. But the Patriarch became a partisan figure demanding complete power and authority over the other Churches.
The conversion of Hagia Sophia into a Mosque was a disaster. The bigger disaster was the downfall of the Church of Constantinople as a result of Patriarch Bartholomew’s anti canonical actions which have resulted in schism. The present situation was not inevitable.
There is only one way out for the Church of Constantinople. Repentance by withdrawing entirely from Ukraine and humbly asking forgiveness from the bishops of Russia, Ukraine, and the whole of Orthodoxy.