Cypriot Church offers to mediate ROC-Phanar dialogue

Archbishop George III of New Justiniana and All Cyprus offered mediation by the Cypriot Orthodox Church in reaching an agreement on controversial issues between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Patriarchate of Constantinople. He stated this in an interview with Euronews.

According to Archbishop George, the proposal to find a common solution between the two Сhurches was put forward by Archbishop Chrysostomos II, but a serious illness prevented him from completing this.

The Primate of the Cypriot Church noted: “All the Ecumenical councils that were established before the Russians became Christians, gave some justice, some rights to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.”

"It is the Ecumenical Patriarchate that gave autocephaly to the Church of Russia and the Church of Greece, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. With this autocephaly, he also gave a volume that stated the limits of these autocephalous churches, as well as the rights of their superiors," explained Archbishop George.

According to him, the territory of Ukraine was not within the canonical boundaries defined by Constantinople for the Moscow Patriarchate. "Within the limits, it (the Constantinople Patriarchate – Ed.) gave autocephaly to the Russian Church, Ukraine does not exist."

The archbishop believes that the idea that the authority of the state influences the authority of the Local Church has no roots in church history. "It is a philosophy that started in the 19th century to connect the numerical population of a country with its leadership position in Orthodoxy," the Primate of the Cypriot Church said.

He insists that the ROC must agree that it is Constantinople that has the right to "regulate" relations within the family of Local Churches. "Therefore, let them see that on the other hand, for 10 centuries, when we were Christians and when the Ecumenical Patriarchate regulated the Christian world with the Ecumenical Synods, they still had not entered Orthodoxy and therefore this is not the first," stressed Archbishop George.

The Primate of the Cypriot Church noted that with a good mood, a solution can be found and he is ready to offer his help thanks to the good relations that the Cypriot Church had with the two Churches for a solution to be found.

As reported, Archbishop George of Cyprus earlier said that during the Christmas Liturgy on 25 December, he remembered the head of the OCU, Epifaniy Dumenko, and that he is continuing the policy of the late Archbishop Chrysostomos towards the Phanar.