Orthodox Russians Believers Will Not Be Able to Pray on Athos: What Are the Consequences of a Break in Relations between the ROC and Constantinople

Until the relations between the two churches change, Orthodox Russians Believers will no longer be able to take communion or participate in divine services in the churches of the Constantinople Patriarchate. Practically, the decision of the Russian Orthodox Church to cease Eucharistic communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople will have consequences for both priests and believers of the two churches. According to the chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department of External Church Relations, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the priests of the two churches will not be able to hold joint services, and the laity of the Russian Orthodox Church will not be able to take communion in the churches of the Constantinople Patriarchate, TSN refers to RosSMI. RosSMI quotes Hilarion as saying, “Practically, it means that we will not be able to officiate together with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, our bishops and priests will not be able to participate in liturgy celebrations jointly with the hierarchs and priests of the Constantinople Patriarchate, and the laity will not be able to take communion in the churches of the Patriarchate of Constantinople”. According to Alexander Volkov, spokesman for Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, the decision of the Russian Orthodox Church also means that Orthodox Russians will not be able to pray in the churches on Mount Athos in Greece. He said that Athos is the canonical territory of the Constantinople Patriarchate “with all that entails”. Volkov explained that as long as relations between the two churches will not change, the Russian Orthodox Church believers will not be able to take communion or attend divine services in the churches of the Constantinople Patriarchate. As UNIAN reported earlier, on October 11, following a meeting of the Synod, a decision was made public that the Ecumenical Patriarchate continues the procedure for granting autocephaly to the church of Ukraine. In addition, the Synod cancelled the letter of 1686 placing the Kiev Metropolis fell under the jurisdiction of Moscow, and restored the canonical statuses of the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate Filaret and the head of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church Makarios. On October 14, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate, Patriarch of Kiev and all of Russia-Ukraine, Filaret said that a stir in Moscow was caused because of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s decision to grant an autocephaly to the Ukrainian church. It also provides for opposition to uniting three Ukrainian Orthodox churches into one. The Kremlin promised to protect the interests of the Orthodox believers in Ukraine “by political and diplomatic means” and not to interfere in the “interchurch dialogue”. UNIAN