Archimandrite of the Ecumenical Patriarchate Romanos Anastasiadis (Ilias Anastasiadis) commented on the postponement of the ROC Council of Bishops until next year. The cleric says the ROC failed to secure support for its divisive actions from the Church of Antioch, which became apparent after the latter’s Synod issued the relevant statement. There are also differences and divisions within the ROC, in particular, Metropolitan Ioan (Renneto), earlier admitted to the ROC, seeks to join the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops of France under the Metropolitan of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
“The ‘Great Muscovite schism’ was postponed… to May 2022… Grossly violating the Statute of the Russian Church, which requires convening the Council of Bishops at least once every four years (the previous one was held late 2017), Kirill, through an extraordinary video conference meeting of the Synod, postponed until May next year the Council of Bishops, which was originally scheduled for November this year…” Father Romanos wrote on Facebook.
“There are many reasons behind this. Of course, there’s the message of the latest Synod of the Patriarchate of Antioch, which made it clear that they don’t want to pursue any action that would deepen and cement the current divisions in Orthodoxy; but also there’s inability to find ‘willing partners’ for a second Amman meeting, after the disgusting failure of their first attempt,” explains Archimandrite Romanos.
He added that more and more reports are coming about internal issues that are causing Moscow headache, including around the move by Ioan (Renneto) to admit to the Moscow-controlled Exarchate of Paris clergy and parishes, earlier separated from the ROCA and on which the ROCA imposed fines.
In addition, according to Father Romanos, the ROCA has filed a suit against Moscow, claiming it will not participate in the Council of Bishops of the Hierarchy of the Russian Church until the issue has been resolved. “But Ioan keeps muddying ‘waters’ on a wider scale… It is reported that he seeks to return to the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops of France under the Metropolitan of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to show that he is allegedly independent of Moscow,” wrote the clergyman of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
“In the Muscovites’ circus we are yet to see many more interesting ‘gigs,’” he concluded.
It should be reminded that earlier, an OCU spokesman declared that the ROC’s aggressive intentions to attack the Ecumenical Patriarchate found no support among other Local Churches.
The Spiritual Front of Ukraine also reported that the ROC had postponed its Council of Bishops until next year. It was initially set to be held November 15-18, 2021. Experts predicted that the Council of Bishops aimed to prepare grounds for a non-canonical Amman assembly, where Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I was supposed to be condemned for granting the OCU a tomos of autocephaly.
On September 23, 2021, the Synod met in Moscow, where the ROC began preparations for an attack on Patriarch Bartholomew and the OCU. Later, Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) accused the Ecumenical Patriarch of “schism” by creating a Local Church independent of the Russian Federation.
Separately, the ROC is threatening to create its own parallel hierarchy in the canonical territories of the Patriarchate of Alexandria.
Religious experts believe the ROC Synod exceeded its canonical authority when declaring a “ban on Bartholomew to speak on behalf of all Orthodoxy.”
The ROC Synod earlier thanked the head of the ROCinU, Onufriy, for remaining faithful to the Moscow Patriarchate.
