Thursday, September 6, 2018

Russian Church rep. accuses EP of "Eastern Papism"

Moscow, September 6 (Interfax) - The claim by Patriarch Bartholomew at a Synaxis in Istanbul that his Church of Constantinople has exclusive rights to resolve the problems of the Christian Orthodox world was pure heresy, Archpriest Andrey Novikov, a member of the Moscow Patriarchate's Bible Theological Commission, said.

"All these expressions - that without the Patriarchate of Constantinople all other local Churches are sheep without a shepherd, that Constantinople possesses certain exclusivity, that it represents an ethos, or nation, of the Orthodoxy, that it has the special rights of ultimate jurisdiction over the whole Church and ensures its unity - all this repeats the Roman Catholic views on the Pope's role in the Church, and that is already absolute, pure heresy," the priest told Interfax-Religion on Thursday.

Overall, the patriarch's speech was a collection of what was said before by various Constantinople theologists, he said.

"It is a trend which has existed since the Middle Ages, but saw a particular rise in the 20th century, becoming hypertrophic, the so-called Eastern Papism trend," Father Andrey said.

However, whereas previously such musings were expressed as a personal opinion of certain hierarchs, now it was said at the Sinaxis, a gathering of all bishops of Constantinople, and "no one protested," meaning that the patriarch's point of view became ecumenical, the priest said.

The Moscow Patriarchate will find it "very difficult to continue communicating with the people who effectively are trying to impose on the Orthodox Church the Roman Catholic model: it runs counter to the Church as created by Jesus Christ," Father Andrey said.

Except that unlike the Roman Catholic Church, whose postulation about papal infallibility was nevertheless endorsed by the Ecumenical Council, Istanbul "has no need for this: here, it was simply a gathering of Constantinople hierarchs representing 3% of the Orthodox land, proclaiming things supposedly binding on the entire Orthodox world, " the priest said.

"This is simply downright mockery of the entire Church. It is simply no longer possible to tolerate, nor co-exist with it while remaining the united Church," he said.

8 comments:

  1. Yow, it's getting warm in here. I mostly try to pray, but when I fail to do that, I fall into trying to map out a positive outcome of all this, and I can't say that I've seen one.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We, by which I mean the Church as a whole, are dancing dangerously close to the edge of a cliff. Urgent prayer is required.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The RCC in the midst of implosion, why is anyone surprised the pretentions of the EP are rearing their ugly head. Stay strong the ride is about to get rougher.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchates of 1848, signed by all four ancient patriarchal churches’ Patriarchs and their synods, agrees with the Russian archpriest has claimed. In ref to universal primacy the Church in 1848 claimed that it was neither lordship nor even really an appellate power, but a brotherly privilege to serve for the unity of the Church. Rus and the rest of the Church will hold Cnople to its conciliar word on this, and “the whole church outweighs one city,” according to St Jerome.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yet I also read today that the Moscow Patriarchate was going to build an "Orthodox Vatican" at Sergiev Posad. You might excuse my bewilderment at all this.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Russia is in great need of our prayers. Those now in charge of both state and The Church in Russia grew up in a millue that suckled at the breast from Hell. The same question Satan asked, "Do you want to know and be as God?" is the same question asked by those who love Marx in man’s eternal quest for Perfection outside Our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ. The thinking of those in the current generation is so distorted it may be 99 years befor the naturally good people of Russia are able to think and live as intended by healthy believers.
    The E. P. may issue a Tomos to Ukraine thereby inflaming the Rus passions and thus prayer is the first and best resource.

    ReplyDelete
  7. https://publicorthodoxy.org/2018/09/07/the-kremlin-hacks-the-patriarchate-is-the-church-under-surveillance/

    THE KREMLIN HACKS THE PATRIARCHATE: IS THE CHURCH UNDER SURVEILLANCE?
    by Evangelos Razis



    ReplyDelete
  8. May be. The Russian state always wanted to know what church thinks and its members .but does nor matter .Power Politics and rest for PAPACY and wordly hangers on

    ReplyDelete