LAST UPDATE: 13:55
“I believe they had no reason to attack. If I killed their parents or siblings, they would not act in this way. Their response was full of venom. I didn’t do anything that bad to justify their hostility. However, I forgive them, I have nothing against them,” stated Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus for the four Metropolitans on the Alpha TV station, immediately after the Vespers service for his name day.
The Archbishop of Cyprus stated that the issue of the Ukrainian autocephaly and the commemoration of Metropolitan Epifaniy would not be put to the vote at the forthcoming meeting of the Holy Synod on November 23, 2020, since the Archbishop will explain to them the reasons behind his decision. He stressed that if one carefully went through the letter he sent to the Ecumenical Patriarch, then Orthodoxy will have no problems and the Church of Cyprus can become an example to be imitated in other denominations.
He stated that after he had visited Constantinople, he learned the truth on the issue. “The Ecumenical Patriarch explained that Ukraine was under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and only granted the administration of the Church to the Moscow Patriarchate due to the proximity of Moscow to Ukraine, as had been the case with the dioceses of the Metropolises of the New Lands in Greece, on the condition that they fist commemorate the Ecumenical Patriarch and then the Patriarch of Moscow.
Let us not forget that at the beginning of the 17th century it was difficult to move from Constantinople to Ukraine. At the beginning of the communist era in Russia in 1917, they stopped commemorating the Ecumenical Patriarch. When communism fell, the Ecumenical Patriarch wanted to revert to the initial status in Ukraine, but the Russians refused to do so. There are many other details that I can not mention now,” noted the Archbishop of Cyprus.
As for the reaction of the four Metropolitans, he stated that he did not believe that they would make statements in the media, but that they would address him, as they knew that the door was open, he would justify their reaction and apologize for the inconvenience caused and would provide them all the necessary details.
“However, I forgive them, I have nothing against them. I am in their hands. I have nothing to fear. I have worked hard in the Church, I gave my all, no one can accuse me of coming here to treat myself. I did not miss something that I would find in the Archdiocese. I had a much better time in Paphos. I came here to work and make reforms and again I praise God Who deemed worthy to make these reforms,” added the Archbishop of Cyprus.
