UOC Primate: The bestowal of Tomos will cause schisms within Orthodoxy
The title of “Mother Church” does not give a canonical right to interfere with the independent spiritual life of the UOC, said Metropolitan Onufry.
If the Tomos on recognition of the schismatics by the Patriarch of Constantinople is granted, it will cause new schisms, of a larger scale and deeper, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine said in an interview with “The Pastor and the Flock” magazine.
According to His Beatitude Onufry, if Tomos is granted, there will be schisms, affecting not only Ukraine but the entire world Orthodox Church.
“According to the Orthodox canons, the dearly respected Church of Constantinople does not have the right to give autocephaly to the Church, which today is not within its jurisdiction,” explained Met. Onufry. “The title of “Mother Church”, which is very often applied today, does not give the canonical right to interfere with the spiritual life of the “Daughter Church”, which long ago separated from the “Mother” and de facto leads its independent spiritual life. If you take into account the fact that the Mother Church itself suffers from its own very deep schism, as a consequence of which the Eastern Byzantine Empire turned into a country which now professes Islam, it will be appropriate to recall words from the Holy Gospel: 'Physician, heal thyself'! (Luke 4, 23)"
A physician, who "is seriously ill himself and thus not in a position to treat others but still does, this will only create greater lawlessness in the form of a global schism within the Orthodoxy," the Primate stressed.
Also, Met. Onufry said that people should live A Godly life and fulfil the commandments, which for Christians is "the path leading to eternal life".
"On this path, you find your personal autocephaly, i.e. the freedom from sin. And perhaps we will also meet the local Church, but it will be completely unlike the one some politicians are trying to build. It will be filled with love, peace and joy about God. This will be not a political Church, but the Christ's Church," the UOC leader said.
