Bishop Gedeon: Istanbul exarchate is a harder yoke than Moscow's

Bishop Gedeon (Kharon) of Makarov

The Abbot of Desiatinny (Tithe) Monastery, Bishop Gedeon (Kharon) of Makarov, spoke in an interview to First Cossack channel about his attitude to the Tomos and the creation of the Single Local Church in Ukraine.

The bishop is confident that the arrival of the Tomos on autocephaly will not lead to a split within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, since, it has become on the contrary more consolidated and cohesive: there are more parishioners in temples, there are regularly opened new churches and monasteries. According to His Grace, splits can affect namely those who are looking forward to the Tomos.

“Who asks for it? The UOC KP and UAOC?, questions the hierarch. “Well, but they do not exist for the World Christianity, nor do they exist for God: these are public organizations to everybody. Well, let them get this Tomos, what will it give them? What will be written there? Exarchate? So should they (the UOC KP and the UAOC – Ed.) subject to the Exarchate of Constantinople, this yoke will much harder than the Moscow one. This, by the way, was said by Filaret, who has no Moscow yoke at all. What's the point of this? <...> Do you think once Tomos is there they are going to applaud it? They will say – what do you mean? This is not what we’ve been fighting for."

In his opinion, the very idea of the Single Local Church is a good one but it should not be created in the way pursued by the Ukrainian government — by force, violating the Constitution, unceremoniously interfering in the affairs of the Church.

“It is we, the hierarchs, the clergy, who should sit at the round table and agree on a road map, on which we will all go and come to the Single Local Church. Using strong hand is out of place in this matter,” emphasized Bishop Gedeon and added that if you do everything in a canonical way, legally, with love, then the Single Church is to be: “We pray for the unification of the Holy Churches of God via grace, prayer, and love – but not hatred!”

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