VATICAN CITY. There are about 400 priests of the Ukrainian Church under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate who collectively appeal to the Council of Primates of the Ancient Eastern Churches (the highest court in world orthodoxy) against the patriarch of Moscow Kirill, suing him. Orthodox Times writes it. According to the 400 priests, Kirill preaches the doctrine of the “Russian world“, which deviates from the Orthodox teaching and should be condemned as heresy. And they charge Kirill with moral crimes in blessing the war against Ukraine and fully supporting the aggressive actions of Russian troops on Ukrainian soil.
The clergy hope that the Council of Primates will consider their appeal and make the right decision: «We are witnessing the brutal actions of the Russian army against the Ukrainian people, approved by Patriarch Kirill. As priests of the Church and as simple Christians, we have always been and will always be with our people, with those who suffer and need help. We fully support the Ukrainian state authorities and the Ukrainian armed forces in their fight against the aggressor, ”said the priests in their appeal.
They also believe that the activities of the Patriarch of Moscow represent a threat to ecumenical orthodoxy.
The authors of the text invite the Council to “examine Kirill’s public statements on the war against Ukraine, to evaluate them in the light of the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Tradition of the Church”, and to deprive Kirill of the right of the patriarchal throne.
“The tragedy that is unfolding in Ukraine today is also the result of the policy pursued by Patriarch Kirill during his office as head of the Russian Church. Obviously, this is already a challenge for the entire Orthodox world, ”says Father Andriy Pinchuk, who uploaded the text of the appeal and the names of his signatories to his personal Facebook account. At the same time, in the ecumenical world, pressure is intensifying on the Ecumenical Council of Churches (Cec) against the Patriarch of Moscow, also to expel the Russian Orthodox Church from the Council. However, the secretary general of the WCC, Reverend Ioan Sauca, of the Romanian Church, has so far “frozen” the proposal to expel the Russian Orthodox Church, arguing that this would deviate from the historical mission of the WCC to strengthen universal dialogue, while postponing the competence and the decision to the Central Committee scheduled for June.