The actions of the Russian Orthodox Church toward the Patriarchate of Alexandria are increasingly turning into an arbitrary farce. Almost two years have passed since the ROC threatened the Orthodox Church of Alexandria to establish a diocese of the Moscow Patriarchate on its territory, which is prohibited by Church canons. Now the Danilov Monastery even claims they “found a theological justification” for their anti-canonical action.
It should be recalled that the Orthodox Church of Alexandria recognized the OCU on November 8, 2019, and immediately after that the ROC claimed there came hundreds of statements from priests who allegedly did not want to be part of the Alexandria Church after its patriarch recognized the OCU.
However, we never saw hundreds of transitions into the ROC bosom. The recent visit of the Patriarch of Alexandria to Africa, as well as its successful outcome, demonstrated the support of the Orthodox clergy and believers in this region of its head – Patriarch Theodoros, not the adventures pursued by the ROC.
Even the ROC had to significantly reduce the degree of their statements after that. In particular, ROC theologian Georgiy Maksymov said none of the bishops of the Alexandria Patriarchate supported the ROC’s views on the actions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which resulted in the Unification Council of Ukrainian Orthodox Denominations and the subsequent granting of the tomos of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
Maksymov writes about the collapse of the ROC in the Alexandrian direction: “Since they found no ruling bishop was found in the Alexandrian Church who would categorically reject the path of schism, the only possibility for the mentioned clerics is to turn to the bishop of another canonical Church, which saved itself from the schism.”
In other words, he admits that Russia failed to bribe the episcopate of the Church of Alexandria with Russian rubles, blackmail or threaten them in any other way. So now the only thing left for the ROC is to work directly with the clergy. Of course, it will be much easier for the ROC to find “rebellious or offended” priests than bishops. But keep in mind that this search has been fruitless for the past two years.
Here it is necessary to emphasize one more detail. The ROC decided to violate the canons of Orthodoxy just because they wished to do so. Who gave the Moscow Patriarchate the right to determine whether the formation of the OCU was a schism or not? They are not universal judges of Orthodoxy. None of the other Churches in world Orthodoxy protests as the Moscow Patriarchate does. Moreover, the ROC does this on its own without any consultation at the Ecumenical level. That is, without asking the world Orthodoxy for permission to act in the African direction, the ROC decided that once Patriarch Theodoros recognized the OCU, Moscow has the right to engage in church occupation of the Patriarchate of Alexandria.
This position once again demonstrates all the hypocrisy of the Moscow Patriarchate, which hollered to the whole world about the importance of the conciliar decision to recognize the OCU. It turns out that where it’s profitable for the ROC, they can get with their dirty intentions on the canonical territory of another patriarchate and without a conciliar decision, right?
However, it should be clarified that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I never interfered in another’s church, but in his own Kyiv Metropolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which was founded during the baptism of Kyiv, to which he granted independence. That is, he did not have to consult with anyone, as is the case with the actions of the ROC in the Alexandria direction.
Now all the attacks of the ROC on the Alexandrian Church look very rude and only spoil Moscow’s image. Moscow, which is posing as a peacemaker, is trying to split the Orthodox Church in Africa into the Moscow and Alexandria patriarchates.
As soon as the ROC takes more decisive action, such as formally approving a bishop in Africa or establishing a diocese there, it will provoke an outrageous reaction from world Orthodoxy. Everyone will once again be convinced that it is not a nice guy who has emerged in the Orthodox arena, but a street thug who seeks to threaten, not to negotiate and unite.
However, even now everyone’s eyebrows have been raised by the ROC action. Virtually no one supports the Amman initiatives of the ROC, so the Moscow Patriarchate, realizing its own disgraceful position, is forced to postpone the Council of Bishops until next year. It was this gathering that they were supposed to use as a training ground before the Amman meeting.
