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Leaders of the Orthodox Church of many countries on Tuesday called for unity and feared further discord after the Muscovite branch announced that it would sever ties with the ecumenical patriarchate based in Istanbul, in the setting of one of the most serious crises in the history of the church.
Monday's break came after Istanbul-based clerics agreed to launch the process of recognizing the independence of the Ukrainian church, an initiative against which Russia has long campaigned.
The decision of Constantinople last week ended more than 300 years of Moscow control over Orthodox churches in Ukraine and affects millions of faithful in Russia and Ukraine.
While the Patriarch of Moscow officially controlled the Orthodox churches in Ukraine up to now, the country has two other Orthodox authorities that split in two without being recognized by Constantinople – until last week.
The religious divide comes amidst deep political tensions, with Ukraine opposing Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and a Moscow-backed uprising in the east. of the country, in which more than 10,000 people were killed.
Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, is considered a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that the Kremlin was following the developments "with great care and with great concern."
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the Russian Orthodox Church was following the Kremlin on the road to voluntary isolation.
"Just as Russia opposed the world community with its aggressive imperial policy, the Russian Church is now on the road to isolation and conflict with Orthodoxy," he said. he writes on his Facebook page.
The Ukrainian president and legislators supported the independence of the country's divided Orthodox Church and see it as a blow to Moscow's influence over Ukraine.
While the conflict stemmed from the stormy relations between Ukraine and Russia, a complete break between the churches of Moscow and Turkey could threaten the integrity of the Orthodox Church as a whole, which has about 250 million faithful in the world.
– & # 39; Other possible splits & # 39; –
The different Orthodox churches are already divided on the issue.
In an interview with a local news site, Serbian Patriarch Irinej said: "We do not think in terms of" for "and" against "."
"We are for the unity of the Church, the harmony, the responsibility of the canonical order and against all that divides and leads to the risk of schism."
At the same time, he said that the recognition by Constantinople of an independent church in Ukraine constituted "a movement that leads to schism" and paves the way for new divisions within other Orthodox churches.
Stevo Vucinic, vice chairman of the Metropolitan Council of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church, hailed the decision of Constantinople "of historical significance" and denounced what he called a "political conflict" led by Moscow and Belgrade.
The Episcopal Conference of the Finnish Orthodox Church described the Moscow decision as "unilateral, sad and very unhappy" and hoped that the patriarchs would settle the conflict through mutual negotiations.
However, Metropolitan Rostislav of the Orthodox Church in the Czech and Slovak countries wrote to Patriarch Kirill condemning "any attempt to legalize Ukrainian schismatics".
The Georgian Patriarchate has announced that it will convene its Holy Synod shortly to decide on its position.
– "Two orthodox worlds at war" –
Even Kremlin-backed Russian media pointed out that Moscow's decision could have disastrous consequences.
The Izvestia newspaper, which strongly supports the Kremlin line, wrote that Monday would enter orthodox history as "one of its darkest days".
The split between the churches of Constantinople and Moscow – the churches with the highest and the highest status, respectively – followed the two greatest upheavals in the history of the Christian Church, he writes.
The front-page article referred to the Protestant Reformation of 1517 and the schism between the Christian Churches of East and West in 1054.
Henceforth, each of the branches of the Orthodox Church "will have to choose with whom to be – Constantinople or the Russian Orthodox Church," wrote Izvestia.
The economic newspaper RBK warned against a "war between the (Saints) Synods", referring to the governing bodies of the churches.
A Russian religious expert, Roman Lunkin, told RBK that Moscow's decision had created "two orthodox worlds at war".
Russian media, including the government paper Rossiiskaya Gazeta, regretted that the Russians could no longer go to pray at Mount Athos in Greece, an important destination for pilgrims and tourists under Constantinople's jurisdiction.
burs-rco-am / dl
A meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in Minsk, illustrated by an image distributed by the press service of the Moscow Patriarchate
Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, is considered a close ally of President Vladimir Putin
