Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church thanks Churches for the fraternal support of Orthodoxy in Ukraine
16.10.2001 · English, Архив 2001
PRIMATE OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH THANKS CHURCHES FOR THE FRATERNAL SUPPORT OF ORTHODOXY IN UKRAINE
In September 2001, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia sent messages to the Primates of the Local Orthodox Sister Churches thanking them warmly for the participation of their delegations in the celebrations in Kiev devoted to the 950th anniversary of the Kiev Laura of the Caves. The messages stated that the presence of the Local Churches envoys “not only adorned the celebrations in Kiev and gave them truly pan-Orthodox nature, but also became a vivid testimony to the fraternal unity of the Holy Church of God in standing for the truth of the Holy Tradition and for the universal assertion of the canonical church order”.
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church expressed special gratitude to His Beatitude Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece, who came to Kiev on the eve of the celebrations, bringing the honourable Head of St. Andrew the First-Called for veneration. Addressing the Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy noted with satisfaction that his “firm and unprejudiced attitude, based on the strict observance of the holy canons in assessing the church situation in Ukraine, strengthened many souls in the right cause of spiritual standing for the purity of the faith and the triumph of truth despite the crafty efforts of “the prince of this world” to sow the thorns of division in the church field”.
In his letter to His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomaios of Constantinople, Patriarch Alexy thanked him for his response to the invitation for representatives of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to take part in the celebrations. At the same time, in the spirit of brotherly openness, he shared his judgements concerning some episodes which took place during the stay of the Constantinopolitan delegation in Kiev.
The letter expressed in particular a perplexity about the fact that the head of the delegation, Metropolitan Meliton of Philadelphia, General Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, left the Laura in a hurry before the festive Divine Liturgy was over, at the moment when the Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma arrived there on the celebration day.
Besides, the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church noticed that the Message on the Occasion of the 950th Anniversary of the Kiev Laura of the Caves distributed under the name of Patriarch Barotholomaios did not even mention the legitimate and canonical head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and All Ukraine, while the first words of the Message: “Brothers and Children beloved in the Lord” made it look like not a fraternal greeting from the Primate of a friendly Church, but rather a nation-wide edification addressed to another flock aside from its legitimate and God-installed pastor, which is expressly forbidden by the Holy Canons.
His Holiness Patriarch Alexy believes this Message to have another shortcoming as its call for unity of all believers fails to make a clear reference to the existence of a canonical Church living in full unity with Universal Orthodoxy – the fact confirmed by the celebrations in Kiev, on the one hand, and the schismatics who wilfully separated themselves from the salvific church unity, on the other.
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