ROC Archimandrite Kirill (Govorun), an acclaimed theologian, has stated that the Moscow Patriarchate was guided by political reasoning when breaking the Eucharistic communication with the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
In addition, Archimandrite Kirill (Govorun) sees no theological grounds behind the move.
That’s according to his interview with the “Igumennekayus” Telegram channel
“I understand the political basis for the decision to sever liturgical communication, but I see no theological grounds behind it. Moreover, from the point of view of Orthodox ecclesiology, not participation but non-participation in such a liturgy is erroneous and deserves canonical prohibitions,” Govorun stressed.
“… No one has abolished the principle: if I take communion with A and A takes communion with B, then I must take communion with B. If I don’t wish to take communion with B, with whom A also takes communion, then I must stop taking communion with A. And so I communicate liturgically, for example, with the Patriarchate of Antioch, and he never suspended communication with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In that case, I must either stop communicating with everyone who communicates with Constantinople, or continue to communicate with Constantinople. Otherwise, this is not about theology, but about the ideology that replaces it,” the scholar concluded.
In the same interview, the archimandrite stated that the Moscow Patriarchate only imitated the process of overcoming the split in Orthodoxy in Ukraine, while Constantinople successfully tackled it.
It should be recalled that earlier, the Spiritual Front of Ukraine spoke about the said principle in its publications. In our article ROCinU’s Theology of the Ignorant, we analyzed why this church doesn’t care about boasting of cooperation with the hierarchs of the Church of Cyprus, which has recognized the OCU. We also wrote that the celebration of the Triumph of Orthodoxy showed how ignorant theologians with the ROCinU are about theology.
