Russian commemoration of Greek primate ceased

(Orthodox Times) - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, after having stopped commemorating Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, did the same thing for Archbishop Ieronymos as well. The Head of the Church of Russia, at today’s Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, did not commemorate Archbishop of Athens during the Liturgy of Preparation. So, his threat that he would sever full communion with Archbishop of Athens in retaliation for the recognition of the Metropolitan of Kyiv was true.

The fact that he did not commemorate the Archbishop of Athens and all Greece has already received the widest publicity in the Russian media.

The Patriarchate of Moscow has imposed a range of sanctions against the Church of Greece, such as unprecedented travel bans, according to which Russian pilgrims are not allowed to visit six “undesirable Metropolises” in Greece. However, the Patriarchate of Moscow has not imposed sanctions against the Church of Greece as a whole, but only against the Bishops who had concelebrated the Divine Liturgy with Metropolitans and clergymen from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

And also...

(Orthodox Times) - Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus said that the fact that the Patriarch of Moscow had stopped commemorating Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens was unacceptable. After the celebration of the Divine Liturgy in the Church of St. George in Latsia, Nicosia, Archbishop Chrysostomos stated that he did not approve the stand taken by the Patriarch of Moscow.

Although the Archbishop of Cyprus criticises the actions of the Russian Patriarch, as he does not agree with them, he takes a neutral stand on the issue of the Autocephalous Church of Ukraine.

In particular, he said, “I think that the stand of the Patriarch of Moscow was unacceptable. We do not sever full communion with the Head of a Church because we simply disagree with some of the decisions taken. We sever full communion only with Churches, which become heretic. As far as I know, neither the Ecumenical Patriarch nor the Archbishop of Athens is heretic. However, this does not mean that I agree with them. We tried to help by setting up a meeting, in order to find a solution, but they did not like it. That is why we did not insist. Neither the Ecumenical Patriarch nor the Patriarch of Moscow wants to set up such a meeting. So, the Church of Cyprus decided to take a neutral stand. We do not agree with the stand taken by both sides and therefore we did commemorate none of them.”