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30 January 2019, 18:03Russian Orthodox Church says tomos confirms new Ukrainian church's vassalage to Constantinople
Moscow, January 30, Interfax - The tomos of autocephaly granted to the new religious organization in Ukraine by the Constantinople Patriarchate confirms the former's dependence on the latter, Vladimir Legoyda, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church's Department for Church, Society and Media Relations, wrote in an article published in the Wednesday issue of Izvestia.
"The tomos is essentially a certificate of the new organization's vassalage to the Istanbul Patriarchate. It has caused suffering to believers who are far from the mercantile concerns of the Istanbul ruler, who enjoyed unexpected attention from the head of a perhaps not quite problem-free, but a big European country," Legoyda wrote.
The main beneficiary of the tomos is Filaret Denisenko, the leader of the former Kiev Patriarchate, who "is not even concealing that he is the true boss of this 'church' and its titular head, Metropolitan Yepifaniy, his former secretary," he wrote.
Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko received a tomos from Phanar and congratulations from the U.S. Department of State, while the persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox Church has received prayers from millions of believers around the world, Legoyda wrote.
"To the question as to what is stronger and more effective, the history of all regimes fighting faith gives quite an unambiguous answer," he wrote. |