The fact of co-service by the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Church of Cyprus has been confirmed. Bishop of the Church of Cyprus, Metropolitan Isaiah of Tamassos co-served with Archbishop Agapit of Vyshgorod with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
This was announced by Archimandrite Romanos Anastasiadis on Facebook.
“Only God is the judge of hearts. He knows whether our actions and words correspond to the feelings of our hearts. We see only what everyone confesses and testifies with their external manifestations. And in this connection, it is undeniable and indisputable that His Eminence Isaiah actually showed his repentance for what he said and did in the past, opposing the canonical decisions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate regarding the granting of the Tomos of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” Archimandrite Romanos commented on the service.
He noted that he thanks God, who truly and majestically expresses himself through the Holy Decisions of the Holy Center of Orthodoxy – the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
“And these Decrees are not the command of people, but the advice of Heaven, as I have recorded many times. Today’s historic co-service at Phanar is a confirmation of that. Because the canonicality of the Church is expressed in the Holy Communion. Everything else is just words without meaning,” concluded Archimandrite Romanos.
It should be recalled that Metropolitan Isaiah of Tamassos said that after the invasion of the Russian Federation, he changed his opinion about the OCU. Earlier, he said that a new study on the ordination of Ukrainian bishops will shed a lot of light on the issue of recognition of the OCU. He also visited Phanar, where he “repented” for his demarche in front of Patriarch Bartholomew.
Metropolitan Isaiah was one of the three pro-Russian hierarchs of the Church of Cyprus who refused to recognize the OCU. Later, the Russian Orthodox Church tried to use him for a split in the Church of Cyprus, but everything passed, and Isaiah gradually changed his opinion about the actions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
