Bartholomew’s Advisor: Met. Seraphim is liable for the situation in Ukraine

Metropolitan Seraphim (Mentzelopoulos) of Piraeus. Photo: rua.gr

On September 14, 2019, the Greek publicist Panagiotis Andriopoulos, an editor of fanarion.blogspot.com, published an open letter to the hierarch of the Greek Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Seraphim (Mentzelopoulos) of Piraeus.

The reason for the publication of the theologian, whom the media call one of the advisors to the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew, was an article by Metropolitan Seraphim of September 12, 2019, in which he said that the OCU is a “church” that does not exist from the canonical point of view, consisting of canonical violators, while the decision to reinstate “two anathematized and defrocked schismatic structures of Ukraine” is invalid, for which the decision to grant autocephaly to the OCU is also invalid.

The open letter says that the Metropolitan "and his associates torpedoed the holy and great Pan-Orthodox Council" in Crete, and "fought fiercely" against it.

The author of the article writes that Metropolitan Seraphim and his “like-minded people” “by the situation you created around the Holy Council gave the Russians a powerful excuse not to come to Crete”.

“You are also responsible for the situation in Ukraine, on January 1, 2019, on the website of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Church there was published a text of your office, entitled as follows: “Metropolitan of Piraeus about the Ukrainian problem: Orthodoxy is led to a great schism.” You say the same in your recent text and, allegedly fighting, you are systematically strengthening the Russian arsenal,” the letter says.

Recall, Metropolitan Seraphim (Mentzelopoulos) of Piraeus is one of the most influential hierarchs of the Greek Orthodox Church, his comment was widely discussed in the Greek media.

As reported by the UOJ, earlier the clergy of the Greek Church published an open letter on the “Ukrainian issue” calling on hierarchs not to recognize the OCU alone contrary to the position of other Churches. In an open letter 179 signatories, the clergy of the Greek Orthodox Church, stated that they are aware of the pressure the Greek Church is experiencing in terms of the "Ukrainian church issue".

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