The Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh. Photo: Alexander Shcherbak/TASS
Africa as revenge for Ukraine
Such harsh accusations have not been exchanged between the primates of the local Orthodox churches of the world since the Ecumenical Councils of the early Byzantine era. The reason was the decision taken before December 29 by the synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to open its dioceses and exarchate in Africa. On the territory that canonically belongs to the ancient Patriarchate of Alexandria, to which the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church declared war. Contrary to the canons, the Russian Orthodox Church received 102 African clerics — approximately 15% of the entire clergy of the Alexandrian Patriarchate.
On January 13, Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria, a great friend of the Russian Orthodox Church in the past (he served and studied in Odessa in the 1980s), issued an emotional message. He calls the leaders of the Moscow Patriarchate «wolves and liars» who sowed «the tares of schism» on the African continent.
In retaliation for the recognition by the Patriarchate of Alexandria of the autocephaly (independence) of the Church of Ukraine, writes the patriarch, the ROC “violated the Tradition of the Ecumenical Councils, which was respected by all Russian Patriarchs to this day.”
Theodore calls the ROC’s invasion of Africa “colonialism” and «stealing» the clear through bribery.
Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria. Photo: Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS
The origins of the current conflict, fraught with a new global split in the Chrythian world, lie in the events of 2016–2019. For more than 50 years, world Orthodoxy (including the Russian Orthodox Church) has been preparing a Pan-Orthodox Council, and when it finally met in July 2016 in Crete, the Russian Orthodox Church suddenly refused to participate in it. One of the main themes of the council was the way of granting autocephaly (ecclesiastical independence to new local churches) and, in this context, the “Ukrainian question”. Parts of the Ukrainian Church sought autocephaly for almost the entire 20th century, and after Ukraine gained independence, this issue became even more acute. Without arriving in Crete, the ROC untied the hands of the Ecumenical (Constantinople) Patriarchate, which, firstly, considers itself the only institution in Orthodoxy authorized to give autocephaly, and secondly, does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ROC over Ukraine, accusing Moscow of annexing the Kievan Metropolis in 17th century As a result, on January 6, 2019, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople granted the Tomos of Autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), and on November 8 of the same year, this act was recognized by the Patriarch of Alexandria.