Metropolitan Mitrofan: Events in Orthodoxy call for decision making

Head of the UOC DECR Metropolitan Mitrofan. Photo: News

The Head of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC, Metropolitan Mitrofan (Yurchuk) of Lugansk and Alchevsk, stated that in order to maintain pan-Orthodox unity, church leaders must take real steps in making decisions. He told about this to the correspondent of the Union of Orthodox Journalists on the eve of the Local Churches’ Primates’ Synaxis in Amman.

“It is difficult to predict what decisions the Primates will take but the very fact of the meeting of the Heads of Churches during the crisis in Orthodoxy is a very positive moment,” His Eminence Mitrofan emphasized.

According to him, "the fact that Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem initiated this meeting testifies that the Primates of the Churches, in spite of everyhting, give an objective assessment of the situation that has developed in inter-Orthodox relations."

The Head of the UOC DECR believes that the Council will give impetus to a meeting with the participation of all the Primates.

“It is surprising that those Primates who themselves voiced the need for such a meeting refused to take part in this meeting. They did it at the last moment, but this indicates that not everything is good in our Orthodox world. And the fact is that the current situation requires some steps and decision-making to maintain the pan-Orthodox unity. Given that the Primates have such a responsibility, they should recognize the expediency of such a meeting, because without a pan-Orthodox discussion, nothing can be changed for the better,” said the Metropolitan.

Recall, the Primates’ Council will be held at the initiative of Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem. During the event, it is planned to discuss the “Ukrainian religious issue” and a number of hot-button issues that arose in World Orthodoxy. At the moment, participation in the Synaxis of Primates has been confirmed by representatives of the Jerusalem, Serbian, Russian, Romanian and Polish Orthodox Churches, as well as the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia.

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