The head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, in an interview with Radio Svoboda commented on a possible meeting between the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Kirill (Gundyaev) and Pope Francis.
The Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine expressed his conviction that the decision on such a meeting on the part of Russia will be made not by the Russian Patriarch, but by President Putin.
“Of course, no one in Russia makes decisions except Putin, and it’s not the prerogative of Patriarch Kirill to determine whether the Pope will come or not. If Putin does not want this, the visit will certainly not take place. But we have already seen the previous meeting between Pope and Patriarch Kirill in Cuba. What did it result in? The meeting did take place, but we still see no consequences as such,” he said.
He also agreed with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who said it was a “dream of the Russian brothers to lead the world Orthodoxy.”
“These things are interconnected. Moscow has and still seeks to gain primacy in world Orthodoxy. But, historically, as the Ecumenical Patriarch has repeatedly stated, this right belongs to Constantinople. This was determined at the Ecumenical Councils so the Russian Church’s efforts to change what has been formed over 1,500 years are vain,” Epifaniy said.
He pointed to the ROC’s attempts to appeal to the number of their followers, noting that “strength is not counted in numbers”:
“What Patriarch Kirill is doing now is multiplying the episcopate. But this doesn’t mean that this church is the largest. In numbers, it is, but spiritually – hardly so. Therefore, there are efforts to maintain control of Ukraine, because without Ukraine they won’t be able to claim this supremacy, as there is now an independent autocephalous OCU, and this gave the Russian Church a pretext to sever the Eucharistic communication with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew,” said the head of the Orthodox Church.
