Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk: The Patriarch of Constantinople claims for special privileges as the Romain Pope
On September 16-17, 2021, a conference dedicated to primacy and conciliarity in Orthodoxy was held at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. The participants of the forum, in particular, spoke about the consequences of the actions of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who trample on the conciliar structure of the Church and destroy its canonical system, Patriarchia.ru reports.
Answering the question of the host of the TV show “Church and the World” E. Gracheva about whether the news of the disorders existing in the Orthodox world will not alienate someone from the Church, the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk emphasized: “It seems to me that it is true an Orthodox person will never turn away from the Church. A person who has superficial religiosity can turn away from it, someone who does not know how to see the reality of the Divine presence in the Church behind human reality, who does not feel that the Church is a space where God lives and acts. “
The archpastor reminded that the Church consists of people who come to her with their sins, passions, their problems, and the clergy are also not free from human sins, weaknesses and passions. “Sometimes human weaknesses and passions affect what we call church politics or church geopolitics, when these or those Local Churches begin to quarrel among themselves, or when this or that person begins to arrogate to himself powers that he really does not have”, – stated the chairman of the DECR.
“We have faced in recent years with the claims of the Patriarch of Constantinople for special privileges, special powers in the Orthodox Church, which are akin to papal powers in the Roman Catholic Church,” the hierarch continued. – But if in the Western Catholic tradition there is a papal system of church government, when one person stands over the entire Church, perceived as the viceroy of Christ, then this has never happened in our Orthodox tradition. The Orthodox Church is a family of Local Churches, and the Primates of these Churches are equal to each other, even if there is a certain order between them in which they line up when they celebrate the Divine Liturgy together.”
Vladyka recalled that, according to the established order, up to the 11th century, the first was the bishop of Rome, followed by the bishop of Constantinople, and then the other Primates of the Local Churches. After a break in communication between Catholics and Orthodox occurred in 1054, primacy in the family of the Eastern Orthodox Churches naturally passed to the Patriarch of Constantinople. However, it was and remains the primacy of honor, not the primacy of power.
“When the Patriarch of Constantinople begins to exercise powers of authority, when he declares that he can interfere in the affairs of any Local Church, redraw the boundaries of Churches, as well as a sole decision to cancel acts and agreements of 300 years ago, with this, the Local Orthodox Churches, of course, will not agree, ”said Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, noting that this was what was discussed at the conference“ World Orthodoxy: Primacy and Sobornost in the Light of the Orthodox Doctrine, ”which took place in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
Among the most important tasks facing the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate is “work to overcome the schisms in Ecumenical Orthodoxy, which are generated by the illegal, anti-canonical and, I would say, insane invasion of Ukraine by the Patriarch of Constantinople,” said His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and all Russ Kirill September 27, 2021 during the ceremony of presenting church awards to the chairman of the DECR Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk and his deputies – Archbishop Leonid of Klin, Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, Archimandrite Filaret (Bulekov), Patriarchy.ru reports.
“I will allow myself to say so, because I know Patriarch Bartholomew well – probably, he did not act with his own mind and not of his own free will,” noted the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.
At the same time, he rejected judgments that, being under external pressure, the Patriarch of Constantinople could not act otherwise: “But how did we act differently, living in an atheistic state? You will not frighten us with any horror stories – we went through everything and did not stop communicating with any Local Orthodox Church, which in our country at that time were often called “henchmen of American imperialism.” We maintained these relations, visited each other, invited delegations here. Therefore, when we are told that today Patriarch Bartholomew allegedly could not have acted otherwise, hinting at powerful forces from outside, I do not accept this argumentation. Among the Patriarchs of Constantinople were martyrs and confessors, one of them – Patriarch Gregory – was hanged at the gates of the Patriarchate. Constantinople has always seemed to us the stronghold of Orthodoxy. ” “And humanly we are very worried that today the Patriarch of Constantinople has fallen into schism, because he received communion with schismatics and recognized self-consecrated persons who do not have legal consecration as canonical bishops,” His Holiness stated.
At the same time, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill emphasized: “Realizing our truth, being convinced that we stand on the unshakable basis of the sacred canons, in a pastoral way, humanly we must strive to overcome this difficult time in inter-Orthodox relations, because in Greece and in other countries under the influence of the Patriarch of Constantinople, there are our brothers and sisters, pious monks and nuns, and it is a great sorrow for us that others suffer from the mistakes of one person. “
The Department for External Church Relations has a lot of work to do: staying on principled canonical positions, do everything to ensure that Ecumenical Orthodoxy emerges from the grave crisis it is in, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church noted.
Each Local Orthodox Church has its own problems, and sometimes very difficult, although not as noticeable as it was, for example, in the Soviet period with the Russian Church, reminded Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, stressing: “Therefore, our joint solidarity, manifestation love for each other is very, very important for strengthening the entire Ecumenical Orthodoxy. “
