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Orthodox Ukraine continues to monitor how persons directly and in directly connected with Moscow wanted to weaken the Ukrainian Church, create a canonical roof for the Moscow patriarchate in Ukraine, how they intrigued, using the discontent and ambitions of certain bloggers, some theologians, encapsulated agents and simply the gullibility of certain people in Ukraine.
You can read about this in our previous article. And today we are going to continue the topic with another researcher, who will show how moscow, with the help of its church schröder, slanders and weakens the leading hierarchy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
It is known that while the Slavs use the title of metropolitan as a high title for a bishop, in the Greek tradition this is only an ordinary diocesan bishop. That is why the Ecumenical Patriarchate has developed a tradition of honoring particularly deserving metropolitans with the title of «geron», or «elder». And among these elders-metropolitans, the first place after the Ecumenical Patriarch himself belongs to the hierarch of the historical Metropolitanate of Chalcedon.
Chalcedon is the Asian part of modern Istanbul, adjacent to the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara. Long ago, such a position of this diocese gave a special status to the hierarchs who held it.
In 2020, Emmanuel (Adamakis), a native of Crete and chief diplomat of the Patriarchate, was elected to this metropolitanate. It was this Metropolitan, then the head of the Metropolitanate in France, who was entrusted by Patriarch Bartholomew to lead the delegations that visited the Local Churches in 2018 to inform them of the decision to grant the Tomos to the Church in Ukraine. Metropolitan Emmanuel had been appointed Senior Exarch in preparation for the Unification Council, he led the preparatory work, conducted a very complex dialogue with the authorities and Ukrainian jurisdictions. It washe who was entrusted by the Patriarch to chair the Council in St Sophia’s Church.
Butin 2021, with his appointment to the Chalcedonian See (Throne), Metropolitan Emmanuel, who had previously been talked about as a potential successor, became the first among the probable candidates. And this could not but alarm moscow and all its allies even more.
Since then, Metropolitan Emmanuel has consistently represented the Patriarch and the Great Church of Christ at all major events in the life of the OCU – the enthronement of the Primate, anniversary celebrations, and business visits. He officially opened the Stavropegia at St Andrew’s Church.
And only the blind and deaf would not understand that the Metropolitan’s work could not possibly suit moscow. In fact, since 2018, he has become «enemy number two» in Constantinople. After the Patriarch himself, of course.
Because, having lost hope of breaking the iron will of Patriarch Bartholomew, moscow and its agents in other Churches undoubtedly think that with the next Patriarch they may have a chance to «negotiate for peace» by betraying the interests of Ukraine. However, if it is the Metropolitan of Chalcedon (let this time not come soon, and Patriarch Bartholomew lives in good health until he is a hundred years old or more!), there will beno question of any concessions to Moscow. This hierarch has shown the unbreakable loyalty to the Ecumenical Throne and the steadfastness in fulfilling his mission towards Ukraine, which Patriarch Bartholomew entrusted to him.
The experience of other Churches, especially those that have recognised the OCU, shows that among the clergy there are those who either love the «Russian world» or love Russian money. Some were recruited by the KGB, others are afraid of the compromising information that Kirill Gundyaev has on them in his safes. The motivs are different, but the result is similar – working in favour of moscow’s interests.
And simple deduction leads to the conclusion that there are such persons among the clergy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. By betraying the interests of Ukraine, they would gladly resolve their own issues of greater power and higher status. Moscow is counting on such people. It is looking for them, encouraging them to act, hoping that, following the Bulgarian scenario, it will ensure a beneficial result for the Kremlin in the upcoming elections that will take place sooner or later.
This is not just an assumption. One of the most respected archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in America spoke about this in an interview, testifying that the long-standing intentions of moscow to neutralise and subjugate the Ecumenical Patriarchate are known and dangerous.
Certainly, such individuals do not dare to act openly in favour of moscow. Some may even think that it is not moscow that will use them, but they will use moscow, situationally playing along with it against Metropolitan Emmanuel. After all, many people in history have been driven to crazy and shameful actions by dreams of the throne. It happens – the devil does not sleep.
For none of those involved in the 2018 process it is a secret that two hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate were seriously considering themselves as potential heads of the new Local Church. Although both of them had proved by their previous activities that they could not really manage anything. But the less a person is fit to hold a position, the more he believes that he is worthy of high honour. It often happens, too, by the temptation of the devil.
Both of these hierarchs, although in different ways, also had and continue to have quite close contacts with those who remain in the moscow patriarchate, the so-called Ukrainian church. And, having a grudge against the fact that the Tomos was not given into their hands, and being explicitly or implicitly instigated by moscow, they decided to harm Metropolitan Emmanuel and demonstrate that they knew better how to act in Ukraine.
Thus, we have a coincidence of interests of several parties at once. Some want to take the Patriarchal throne and see Metropolitan Emmanuel as their competitor, so anything that will harm him seems to them to be beneficial. Others want to buy favour from moscow through concessions in Ukraine. Yet others are simply of fended that they have not been given the reins of church affairs in Ukraine.
Hence, at the beginning of 2023, emissaries from the structure of the moscow patriarchate, which calls itself the «Ukrainian Orthodox Church» in Ukraine, began to address all of them to encourage them to do something together against the OCU. Their former colleague-diplomat, who also considers himself the most worthy to be a church leader in Ukraine, joined these plans. And this team conspired to use the temporary, rotational presence in the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to mislead the Patriarch into believing that they had the authority to do something in Ukraine.
In this way, the «synodal delegation» had been born, which since the beginning of May had been secretly planning to enter Ukraine to conduct separate negotiations with Onufriy and his subordinates. Without informing the Primate of the OCU, in fact, ignoring the canonical order and rules, they wanted to take this opportunity to harm both the OCU and Metropolitan Emmanuel. But to portray all this as a commitment to the «unity of Orthodoxy».
The Patriarch was unaware of this dark side of their plans, especially since he had been assured of the alleged understanding they had had with Ukraine. Therefore, in the spirit of brotherly love and precisely to support the OCU and personally its Primate, Metropolitan Epifaniy, the Patriarch gave his blessing for the delegation to go on the trip. This is what he had written in a letter, the answer to which was leaked to the press by the conspirators a year later, hoping to hide their failure behind the authority of His All-Holiness.
But in reality, unlike the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Mother Church, they had no love and respect for the OCU. Therefore, as Metropolitan Epiphaniy wrote, he had not been informed of the intentions of the visit, the time of arrival and the programme.
The Gospel says that the shepherd enters through the door, but the thief climbs over somewhere else. A vivid description of the conspirators’plan. It failed because God does not like cunningness.
When all this became clear, the true plenipotentiary representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch, Metropolitan Emmanuel, duly arrive din Ukraine in early August 2023, at the invitation of the Primate of the OCU and the President of Ukraine. After that, Metropolitan Epiphaniy himself visited the Ecumenical Patriarchate on 1 September on the occasion of the New Church Year. During the direct communication with His All-Holiness, all the i’s were «dotted». It can be seen that after that, twice more – in February and in July this year – it was Metropolitan Emmanuel who was instructed by the Patriarch to represent him and the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Ukraine.
One can understand the emotions of the conspirators, who a year ago found themselves in an awkward situation, having essentially deceived the Patriarch and the Synod. Although their authority as delegates had not been exercised, and with their withdrawal from the Synod they lost the formal right to represent it, a year later the old letter was pulled out to cover up anew intrigue.
The President of Ukraine invited numerous foreign guests to come to Kyiv for a Prayer Breakfast to demonstrate spiritual support in the struggle against russia. Having received one of these hundreds of invitations, the hierarch arrived in Kyiv. He did not have any official church authority and, according to the rules, he should have informed the Head of the Local Church, whose canonical territory he was visiting, about his arrival. But the reality makes us recall the words of the Gospel that have already been said.
Why have they decided to try to renew the old intrigue now? Because the next Synaxis of the hierarchy will take place in Constantinople in a month. Every three years, all the bishops of the Ecumenical Patriarchate gather in the spiritual centre of Orthodoxy for communication and discussions. On the eve of this event, the first since the great war in Ukraine, all the above-mentioned forces and individuals apparently decided to somehow strike a blow against their opponent.
Such actions are covered up by statements that the OCU and Metropolitan Epiphaniy personally «are not able to unite the Church in Ukraine», so they should make concessions to the moscow patriarchate. This is also an outright lie.
Metropolitan Epiphaniy has a level of trust many times higher than Onufriy. The OCU is a sustainable church that responds to the challenges of the times with dignity. Similarly, the OCU is not only many times larger than Onufriy’s structure in terms of the number of supporters, as all sociological surveys show, but it is also larger in terms of the number of parishes that belong to it.
It is not the unity of Orthodoxy and the good of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church in Ukraine that is really the concern of those who, for the sake of their own petty interests, are trying to harm and play on the side of the main enemy of truth and peace – moscow. But God sees everything and knows everything. Those who put their trust in Him, and not in wickedness and conspiracies, also know enough. So this time, just like last year, all their plans turn out to be an empty sound. And the ones who came sneakingly left with nothing.
We can wholeheartedly wish His All-Holiness, the wise and truly invincible Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, many years of successful service on the sacred first throne of the Great Church of Christ and all Orthodoxy. May the wickedness of the cunning be exposed as he knows how to do, judging with dignity what is true and what is false. For the sake of a good future for both the Ecumenical Patriarchate and all Orthodoxy.
MELCHISEDEK