Russian Orthodox Church Cuts Ties With Global Orthodox Community; Worst Schism Since 1054 [Christian

Russian Orthodox Church Cuts Ties With Global Orthodox Community; Worst Schism Since 1054

By Michael Gryboski , Christian Post Reporter | Oct 16, 2018 6:40 PM


Members of the Orthodox clergy walk in procession after a call to prayer in support of the Orthodox Church at the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow April 22, 2012.

The Russian Orthodox Church has severed its ties with the central Orthodox Church community, in a move considered by some to be the worst schism the church has faced in nearly a thousand years.

Russian Orthodox Church officials said on Monday that the decision to cut ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople came in response to Constantinople's decision to recognize the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as independent from Russian control.

Metropolitan Ilarion, the Moscow Patriarchate's head of external relations, blamed Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the main church leader of the Orthodox Church, in a statement earlier this week.

"We now stand before a new church reality: we no longer have a single coordinating center in the Orthodox Church and we must very clearly recognize that," said Ilarion, according to ABC News. "The Constantinople Patriarchate liquidated itself as such a center."

The Christian Post reached out to the Orthodox Church in America for their perspective. The Church declined to comment, but did direct CP to an Archpastoral letter written by Metropolitan Tikhon, primate of the Orthodox Church in America

In his letter, dated Sept. 26, Metropolitan Tikhon explained that they "received with sorrow, yet with understanding" the Russian Church's intention to sever ties.

"We are deeply aware of the pain and trauma in the life of Orthodox people caused by ecclesial schism which weakens Orthodox witness and evangelism in society. Such pain and trauma have been wounds in the life of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine for several decades," wrote Tikhon.

"Schism, division, and mutual antagonism are not only canonical problems — they are pastoral and spiritual challenges demanding the healing power of Christ and Christian faith."

Tikhon also called for "our clergy, monastics, and faithful to offer their support and fervent prayers" for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, as well as to maintain "collaboration and Eucharistic communion with both the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Patriarchate of Moscow, thus offering a sign of unity in the face of current threats to unity."

The present schism within the 300 million member Orthodox community is rooted in Russia's annexation of the Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

The Patriarch of Constantinople, seen as "first among equals" in Orthodox Church leadership, agreed to the creation of an independent church in Ukraine in response the request for such by many in the Eastern European nation.

For his part, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has supported the decision to create an independent church, saying in a statement quoted by the BBC that it is "an issue of Ukrainian national security" and "an issue of Ukrainian statehood."

Some have compared the recent news to the Great Schism of 1054, when disagreements over church authority and theology led to a split between Eastern churches under the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople and the Western churches under the Pope in Rome.


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https://www.christianpost.com/news/...dox-community-worst-schism-since-1054-227991/

 

Good article as well.

The Orthodox Schism and the Spiritual Limits of Politics https://nyti.ms/2AhqbM7

 

This is nonsense. The seeds of this were manifested in the attempted "Pan-Orthodox General Council" of 2016, when the Balkan jurisdictions withdrew (and one of the original 5 metropolitan patriarchs? I don't recall just now but I think that was an issue). Anyhow, Moscow probably has the leverage to supplant the EP. And, he has flown under the radar because he is Eastern, but Bartholomew I is not far from Pope Francis in his non-theological views.

 

I don't know if Moscow can pull this off. The way it's been reported is, the russian orthodox church cuts ties "with the global orthodox community". ie. the Russians are over here, while The Orthodox World is over there.

The Russians are trying to play this by looking at numbers (which they have a lot of). But purely legally speaking, seeing them at odds with Orthodoxy writ large is accurate. At least half of the orthodox world directly owes allegiance to the Ecumenical Patriarch; namely the Greeks, the Egyptians, and obviously now the new Ukranian Church which I'm sure is very grateful for him. The Russians have... the Russian church (which is vast, no doubt), but very little else.

 

So much of this, unfortunately, is the result of the nationalism/phyletism which is endemic to Orthodoxy. "My Church is bigger/older than your Church."

 

Some Romanists are saying this will fulfill Fatima. Ukraine was the place of several Marian appearances in 1987 and one time on the anniversary of Fatima, which claimed that Ukraine would be used to convert the Russians to obedience to the Pope. The Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church already recognizes some kind of primacy in the Roman pontiff, or so I heard, but not his full binding supremacy. The visions claimed Ukraine would succeed at becoming an independent state, which it did in 1991. However, it said if the Russians and Ukrainians remained loyal to the Pope and obeyed him, everything would be OK and the third secret of Fatima might be revealed, or there would be another world war. Some reported that Fatima was about consecrating the world, while other reports said it was about consecrating Russia to Christianity, which confuses some as to whether that means Roman Catholicism (since Fatima was pre-Vatican II) or Orthodoxy, provided they accept the Orthodox as a valid church (Romanists say the Orthodox still have some valid connection with them according to their doctrine). Orthodox and Protestants will object to Fatima as a demonic delusion, saying the church and it's pope of that time did more to enforce communism, using it to agitate the Russian Orthodox during the Soviet era, and some could mention that Fatima was also the daughter of Mohammed, which is ironic since Vatican II would come several decades later and lead to things like radical ecumenism, and John Paul II kissing the Koran, etc. So there's two sides to the story.

 

You are probably meaning the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, one of the major Eastern Catholic or 'Uniate' jurisdictions. They worship and teach doctrine in an Eastern fashion while remaining in union with the Pope of Rome (nominally, as long as he doesn't make them mad - Francis does a poor job of securing their loyalty).

 

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has broken with the Russian Orthodox Patriachate. And they said “we Protestants are the splintering ones.” Seems splintering is invisible no matter what denomination you are:

“In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it, or there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.” (1 Corinthians 11:18-19)

 

The Egyptians are Orthodox? I thought they were their own thing.

I still suspect that the ROC isn't much smaller than these other groups, although I'm not sure how the church elsewhere in the former Soviet Union is lining up.

 

Depends if they (the Egyptians) are Coptic Orthodox or simply Eastern Orthodox.

 

The term is Oriental Orthodox:

Oriental Orthodoxy is the fourth largest communion of Christian churches, with about 76 million members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history and culture of Armenia, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan and parts of the Middle East and India. An Eastern Christian communion of autocephalous churches, its bishops are equal by virtue of episcopal ordination, and its doctrines can be summarised in that the communion recognizes the validity of only the first three ecumenical councils.​

and the origins of Oriental Orthodoxy as distinct from the rest of the Church goes back to Chalcedon, where it was taken, that they were Monophysite. The more recent work done in Anglican-Oriental Orthodox dialogues ventures to suggest that that was in error and indeed they were monothelite which is such a fine hairbrush strand away from Chalcedon, and we in the west who seem to do our theology with a much wider brush would have trouble discerning the difference. The Coptic Church is only one of the Churches in the Oriental Orthodox world.

Of course it will depend how you count, however the Russian Orthodox is almost certainly the largest of the Orthodox Churches, somewhere between 60 and 100 million people. It is this weight that has been one of the stressors in Orthodoxy,m and on of the great challenges of Autocephalous communions.

 

Thank you for this explanation. I am weak on Orential Orthodox History and Rite. Do you know of any reputable beginners resources (books, sites and etc) on the Oriental Orthodox?

 

There is quite a bit here.

Also look at any of the reputable books dealing with the Council of Chalcedon.

 

Is there a thread dedicated to Oriental Orthodoxy in the Theology and Doctrine sectjon of the forums?