SOC bishop: Autocephaly of OCU is a means of destroying unity of the Church
Bishop Irinej of Bačka believes the autocephaly of the OCU has become a wall of temptation and a stumbling block, failing to serve pastoral salvific efforts.
On September 16, 2021, at the conference "World Orthodoxy: Primacy and Conciliarity in the Light of the Orthodox Doctrine", held online, Bishop Irinej (Bulovic) of Bačka of the Serbian Orthodox stated that the autocephaly of the OCU is a weapon and means of destroying the unity of the Orthodox Church, reports Patriarchia.ru.
In his report “Church Autocephaly Yesterday and Today,” speaking about the granting of autocephaly by the Patriarch of Constantinople to Ukrainian schismatics, Bishop Irinej stressed that “autocephaly should be a confirmation and consolidation of the conciliarity and unity of the Church, but in fact it has become a wall of temptation and a stumbling block.”
In the opinion of the hierarch of the Serbian Church, the autocephaly of the OCU "not only fails to contribute to consolidation of the Orthodox faith and growth of the body of the Ecumenical Orthodox Church, but above all does not serve the pastoral soteriological efforts to save the souls of all believers."
Vladyka is sure that today this autocephaly, conversely, "is being used as a tool and means to destroy the unity of the Church with a view to redefining Orthodox ecclesiology."
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the hierarchs of the UOC made reports at a conference on primacy in the Church.
