Religious expert Oleksandr Yefremenko has commented on the unification of the schismatic from the Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece (GOC), Metropolitan Auxentius, with the UOC-KP.
Yefremenko pointed to the timing of the unification and suggested that Russia, the aggressor power, could be behind the move. According to the expert, the Russian Orthodox Church seeks to pit Athens against Kyiv and divert attention from its own failures, including a failed attempt to overthrow the Ecumenical Patriarch through an uncanonical meeting in Amman.
“The so-called union between Bishop Filaret and Greek old-stylers seems to be a purposeful provocation on the part of Moscow. It is worth noting that earlier, that is, prior to the Unification Council, the so-called Metropolitan Auxentius expressed no will to join the UOC-KP. The question arises: “Why?” Perhaps it’s because he didn’t have the appropriate “instructions from above”? It also looks rather strange that this so-called unification took place on the eve of the Greece visit of the Ecumenical Patriarch,” the religious expert wrote in a Facebook post.
He added that the tandem of Filaret and Auxentius is a sort of “Moscow-Trojan horse.”
“Having failed in its attempts to split the hierarchy of the Hellenic Church, the ROC decided to pit Athens against Kyiv and Constantinople by exploiting Filaret and Auxentius. The wide and extensive coverage of this news piece by Russian propaganda resources is another confirmation proving the point,” Yefremenko said.
At the same time, the religious expert notes, the “unification” promoted by the Kremlin has no significant consequences and there can’t be any.
“The Moscow Patriarchate is deliberately exaggerating this so-called breaking report, which was conceived out of thin air, for its own benefit. As I have already said in my previous posts, all this is done in order to divert attention from their own colossal problems,” Oleksandr Yefremenko concluded.
He also noted that Filaret’s actions found no support among the clergy and Ukrainian society.
