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| Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople |
The Russian Orthodox Church's Synod for the first time in its history is gathered in Minsk, Belarus, to decide what to answer to the Patriarchate of Vaseljevski, which a week ago started the procedures to make autocephalous the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Belgrade media reports.
Istanbul's Patriarch Bartholomew has ignored Church canons and has begun the procedures to give the autocephaly, despite the opposition of the only orthodox Church accepted in Ukraine, which is local to the Moscow Patriarchate,The Russian Cyril, stated in Minsk that keeping the synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus coincides with the 1030th anniversary of Russian Christianity and Christian common history.
In the Russian Orthodox Church are angry because the Patriarch of Istanbul has removed the anathema (the curse) from the patriarch's schisma, as the Moscow considers - self-proclaimed, Fillaret Denisenko (89), and Makarije Miletiçi, who is in charge of the other schismatic (heretical) Church that considers itself the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
"Those who think that with the Istanbul Patriarch's decision to grant autocephaly (independence) to the Ukrainian heretics can isolate us, make a grave mistake" the Metropolitan Ilarion said.
The crisis in the Orthodoxy will be these days the topic of talks between Serbian Patriarch Irinej and Patriarchate Patriarch Antiohije Jovan 10th, who is visiting the Serbian Orthodox Church.
It remains to be seen whether the relations between the Synod of the Russian Church will immediately interfere to the Patriarch of Istanbul.