Best defense is offense: head of Phanar accuses ROC of papal ambitions
Patriarch Bartholomew believes he cannot be accused of papism, since he only fulfills the ministry passed down to him by his predecessors.
On January 3, 2021, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, in an interview with the Greek newspaper Vima tis Kyriakis, accused Patriarch Kirill of Moscow of papal ambitions, reports the Orthodox Times website.
In the opinion of the head of Phanar, his being accused of papal ambitions does not correspond to reality, since "should we call papism the fact that I shoulder the responsibilities of my ministry?"
He is sure that the true goal of those who disagree with the granting of the Tomos to the OCU is to "remove these unique responsibilities of the throne of Constantinople and transfer them to others."
“I cannot deny the responsibilities inherited to me by my predecessors,” Patriarch Bartholomew upheld.
Speaking about Patriarch Kirill, the head of Phanar said that “after all, who behaves like the ‘Pope of Orthodoxy’? The one who remains faithful to its tradition or the one who claims for himself the position he never had and will not have?"
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that, according to Patriarch Bartholomew, there is no schism in the Orthodox Church.
