ROC: All Local Churches agreed to the decision on Filaret’s anathema
The possibility of revising the decisions by the Church of Constantinople as for laying anathema on Filaret was commented by the Russian Orthodox Church.
All Local Churches, including the Patriarch of Constantinople, agreed to the decision of the ROC on the anathema of Filaret in the 1990s. This was announced to RIA Novosti by deputy head of the ROC DECR Protopriest Nikolai Balashov, commenting on the possibility of lifting the anathema from Filaret by the Phanar.
According to him, the possibility of overhauling this decision theoretically exists but it is in the competence of the Church, which imposed the corresponding canonical punishments.
"Of course, when such an extraordinary event happened – first the deprivation of dignity, and then even the excommunication of the former Kiev Metropolitan who was once the locum tenens of the patriarchal throne of our Church and one of its obvious candidates for the patriarchy – all Orthodox Local Churches of the world were notified about it. And they took note and confirmed their agreement with this decision, including the Patriarch of Constantinople," said Protopriest Nikolai Balashov.
The deputy head of the ROC DECR reported that the church archives contain a corresponding letter from Patriarch Bartholomew.
"The sacred canons do not allow any other procedure for revising this disciplinary punishment," the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church stressed.
Protopriest Nikolai reminded that the head of the UOC KP addressed a letter to Patriarch Kirill and the episcopate of the Russian Orthodox Church with a request for the abolition of "all decisions, including on the punishments and excommunication." But later he disavowed his statement.
"We can only assume this was prompted by some political influence from secular persons because if we talk about religious persons, the closest Filaret’s advisors personally delivered his letter with petitions to Moscow. Hence, apparently, it is about some kind of interference in this process from the outside," said the deputy head of the ROC DECR.
Earlier, Spokesman of the UOC KP Eustraty Zoria said that the issue of Tomos could not be resolved without the Phanar's positive consideration of the appeal of "patriarch" Filaret regarding the lifting of his anathema. At the same time, the Kiev Patriarchate hopes that the decisions of the Russian Orthodox Church will be declared invalid.
On June 11, 1992, the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to "deprive Metropolitan Filaret (Denisenko) of his present dignity, all degrees of priesthood and all the rights associated with the status in the clergy." In 1997, at the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in St. Daniel Monastery in Moscow, Filaret was excommunicated and anathematized. This decision was recognized by other Local Orthodox Churches.
