"And us for sho"? On the reaction of the Phanar and Patriarch Theodore to the Exarchate in Africa

After the Russian Orthodox Church opened an exarchate in Africa, Panari began to panic and accusations of seizing the original territories were pouring in, full of indignation and indignation, in the style of “and we are for sho” …

The last couple of days in the church theme are held under the sign of the Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in Africa. On January 11, the synod of Phanar spoke out, and on January 12, the synod of the Church of Alexandria made a statement. As expected, Greeks from both Churches are full of indignation and indignation. The general meaning of the documents can be conveyed in one phrase: “What are we for?”, the author writes. life expectancy Konstantin Mikolenko.

According to the author, the Phanariots condemned “the illegal intrusion of the Russian Church into the jurisdiction of the ancient Patriarchate of Alexandria” and promised “to do everything possible to restore the canonical order on the African continent.”

Patriarch Theodore was much more talkative. Let’s take a quick look at his main theses.

1. Patriarch Theodore was told that two years after the recognition of Sergei Dumenko and the OCU, they “unexpectedly (unexpectedly, Karl! – Ed.) received an illegal and unofficial invasion” of the ROC. They also regarded the creation of the Exarchate as “blackmail and revenge.”
If we discard emotions, we see that Patriarch Theodore is fully aware that the creation of the Exarchate is directly related to his recognition of the schismatics and co-service with them.

It is noteworthy that at the end of 2016, Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and All Africa, commenting on the situation in Ukraine, called the UOC part of the Russian Church. “The Patriarchate of Alexandria and I, as its representative, have taken the position that the Ukrainian Church is an integral part of the Russian Orthodox Church,” the patriarch said at the time.

2. The Church of Alexandria accused the Russian Orthodox Church of the “ethno-racism virus”. And this is very funny, because in the Alexandrian Patriarchate, which ministers to ALL Africa, there are, in fact, very few African bishops. Almost all of them are of Greek origin. Moreover, at the last synod, a decision was announced to ordain 6 archimandrites as bishops. So, five of these six are Greeks! Agree, it is very witty after this to accuse the ROC of “ethnoracism”.

3. Patriarch Theodore believes that the creation of the Exarchate “grossly violates the essence of our Orthodox faith.”
Yes Yes. When Theodore strenuously cursed the Ukrainian schismatics and called on the believers of the UOC to be faithful to Metropolitan Onufry, and then went to serve with Sergei Dumenko, this was not “a violation of the essence of our Orthodox faith.” And when the Russian Orthodox Church called him a schismatic and took appropriate action, everything changed.
And a few words, in fact, about the “essence of faith.” Recall that, according to canonical rules, a priest who served with a schismatic becomes a schismatic himself and is subject to defrocking. Therefore, from the point of view of the Church, Africa has become a “canonical desert”, and the Russian Church (like any other) has every right to “defend the Orthodox who refuse to associate themselves with the schism” (the words of the Exarch of Africa, Metropolitan Leonid).

4. The Church of Alexandria promised “correct and immediate application to violators of ecclesiastical punishments”, as well as to tell other Churches about the situation.

There is no reaction to this decision of the Church of Alexandria in the Russian Orthodox Church yet, but there is a reaction to the words of the Phanar. And she is very expressive. The exarch of Africa said the following: “We did not enter the canonical territoriality of another Church, we did not subject the Ukrainian people to troubles and hardships, we do not shy away from a reasonable fraternal dialogue that would help cool the mentoring tone of the primate of the Church of Constantinople. As for the canonical order on the African continent, under the omophorion of the Russian Orthodox Church, it was not violated, but restored.”
Well, and one more, extremely important phrase of the bishop: “From now on, the ROC will stop the anti-canonical actions of any leaders who encroach on the laws, foundations, traditions of the church.”

And it is worth paying special attention to this “anyone” on the Phanar.

“We didn’t enter the canonical territoriality of another Church, we didn’t subject the Ukrainian people to troubles and hardships, we didn’t shy away from a reasonable fraternal dialogue that would help cool the mentoring tone of the primate of the Church of Constantinople. As for the canonical order on the African continent, it was restored under the omophorion of the Russian Orthodox Church. And henceforth, the ROC will stop the anti-canonical actions of any leaders who encroach on the laws, foundations, traditions of the church,” said Metropolitan Leonid.

I wonder what will be done in Fanari now? Ask the United States to send troops.

Recall that the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa was formed in the ROC and decided to receive 102 clerics of the Patriarchate of Alexandria from eight African countries, who unsuccessfully asked their bishops not to recognize the OCU and not to enter into communion with schismatics.

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