The Ecclesial Crisis in Ukraine

Description

“…a thoughtful and objective
treatise for understanding the ecclesiastical crisis that has been created by
the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s granting autocephaly to schismatic groups in
Ukraine.” – +TIMOTHEOS, Metropolitan of Bostra (Patriarchate of
Jerusalem)

“We pray to the Almighty God and the Most-Holy
Theotokos that this division ends quickly and Church order will reign again.  We
are pleased that writings such as this work by Metropolitan Nikiforos are
working towards this correction.”
+LONGIN, Bishop of New Gracanica and Midwestern America (Church
of Serbia)

“This lively analysis presents the situation of the
Orthodox Church in Ukraine in an accessible way to both theologians, the
faithful, and all people interested in the topic of the unity of the Orthodox
Church in Ukraine.”
+ABEL, Archbishop of Lublin and Chelm (Church of
Poland)

“This is a serious study of a crisis in the life of
our Orthodox Church worldwide that deserves to be widely read as we seek to
understand the underlying issues more clearly and find a conciliar solution that
brings both unity and peace.”
+JURAJ, Archbishop of Michalovce and Košice
(Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia)

This is essential reading for all Orthodox believers to better
understand what the Ukrainian crisis means for the future of their Church. It
will also assist others to see beyond the characterization of the crisis as a
political event in the context of relations between Russia and the West. It
makes clear that at its heart this is an ecclesiological dispute calling out for
a conciliar solution.

In the autumn of 2018 the Russian Orthodox Church broke communion with the
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople following the latter Synod’s
announcement of their intention to create an autocephalous Orthodox Church of
Ukraine (OCU). In December of that year a formal council was convened in Kiev
and this new ecclesial body was created from two Ukrainian groups previously
considered schismatic by all of the Orthodox churches worldwide. All of this
transpired without any attempt by the Ecumenical Patriarchate to seek a
consensus of all the Orthodox churches before embarking this course of
action.

More than two years later the newly created OCU remains unrecognised by the
overwhelming majority of the world’s Orthodox believers notwithstanding that it
has in that time been been recognised as Orthodox by the Patriarchate of
Alexandria and the Churches of Cyprus and Greece. But even this recognition has
not been without significant dissenting voices. Among these is the Abbot of the
renowned Kykkos monastery in Cyprus, Metropolitan Nikiforos. In this pithy text
he eloquently explains why the actions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate have
created a schism in the Orthodox Church worldwide and how in turn they reflect
the promotion of a new ecclesiology that distorts the traditional understanding
of the Orthodox Church as headed only by Christ Himself. He is clear that the
only road to healing and unending schism is a return to a form of inter-Orthodox
relations which respects both conciliarity and hierarchy. In doing this he
stresses his utmost respect for the historical place of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate of Constantinople and the hope that it will turn back from the path
it is currently on to resume its rightful place in the plurality of the Orthodox
Church.