Tomos signed in disregard of all canons

According to experts, external contradictions may well arise in addition to the contradictions in Ukraine, which have been caused by the establishment of the new church - the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). After signing a special decree, a tomos, Archbishop Kliment, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, pointed out that this document was made up and signed in disregard of all the canons observed by local churches.

Patriarch Bartholomew called on all Orthodox churches to recognize the OCU's autocephaly. Although the so-called Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople attempts to dominate in the world's Orthodoxy, however, its word is by no means a law and it does not oblige anyone to anything. It is unlikely that all Orthodox churches will agree to include the new Ukrainian church in Eucharistic communion. Religious scholars believe that it will take decades and even centuries to recognize the OCU if at all.

This may entail the most serious split in Christendom since the Great Schism between Rome and Constantinople in 1054. Also, the break in relations between Moscow and the Ecumenical Patriarchate has weakened the latter as other Orthodox churches follow Russia in rejecting Constantinople’s primacy. Reportedly, the churches of Poland, Serbia and Antioch (Syria) have already come out on Russia’s side.

Bartholomew has long seen the Russian church as trying to undermine his authority. Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, stayed away from a Holy and Great Council hosted by Bartholomew on Crete in 2016, a meeting of all Orthodox church leaders aimed at promoting unity, which had been 55 years in the making. The patriarchs of Bulgaria, Georgia and Antioch did not attend either.