Jerusalem bishop: Forces hostile to Orthodoxy stand behind Dumenko and OCU

On August 4, 2022, Archbishop Theodosios of Sebastia (Patriarchate of Jerusalem) issued a personal statement, in which he spoke about the true meaning and significance of the letter, which Epifaniy Dumenko addressed to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople on July 27. The Bishop's statement is posted on the DECR website of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Epiphany's letter is very suspicious. Most likely, behind it are forces hostile to the Orthodox Church, which counteract the healing of the church schism, aiming to to aggravate it,” said Archbishop Theodosios.

He expressed the hope that the church hierarchs of the Orthodox Church and the head of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Bartholomew, would duly appreciate this “poisonous” letter, “the purpose of which is only to deepen the current crisis, but not to resolve the Ukrainian church issue.”

Vladyka urged not to pay attention to the attacks of Epifaniy and his supporters, since they "are a problem themselves, but by no means a solution to the problem." “All of them are servants of political forces hostile to our Church, which have unleashed the current crisis that needs to be resolved as soon as possible,” he stressed.

Archbishop Theodosios acknowledged that the severed communion between the Local Orthodox Churches due to the Ukrainian schism is upsetting and disappointing to all Orthodox believers. In order to overcome it, "it is necessary to steadfastly oppose the political pressure exerted by hostile forces that pursue the goal of deepening divisions within the single body of the Church of Christ."

As the UOJ wrote, Jerusalem commented on Dumenko's call to deprive the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church of his title as patriarch.

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