Spokesman for UOC tells why Cypriot Synod met twice on the OCU issue
The arguments of the seven metropolitans against the OCU left the Synod of the Church of Cyprus dumbstruck, said Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich.
Between the sessions of the Synod of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus on November 23 and 25, a lot of Cypriot hierarchs were put under pressure from Archbishop Chrysostomos, said Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, Deputy Head of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC, in an interview with First Cossack channel.
During the first meeting of the Synod of the Cypriot Church on the Ukrainian issue, some metropolitans presented their research on the problem of the OCU, which said that the structure of Epiphany did not have apostolic succession, the spokesman of the UOC said.
“Other arguments were also voiced, which left the entire Synod of the Cypriot Orthodox Church dumbstruck,” Fr. Nikolai continued. “That is why on this day they could not accept anything and asked for a two-day delay in order to study the situation in detail, to read all the argumentation of the metropolitans who objected to their Primate’s decision.”
The priest stressed that when it comes to the theological essence of the Ukrainian church issue, the opponents of the UOC have nothing to say.
“Because they are defenseless,” he upheld. “They have no apostolic succession, right? Right. Their priestly ordinations received in schism are invalid, right? Right. Is it therefore wrong that they have created a parallel jurisdiction here? Yes, it is wrong. "
According to the deputy head of the UOC DECR, between the sessions of the Synod on November 23 and 25, "pressure was exerted on many bishops of the Cypriot Church by the Archbishop."
As reported by the UOJ, the hierarch of the UOC said that the Communiqué of the Cypriot Synod speaks of the threat of schism in the Church.
