By Kostas Onisenko
The Russian Orthodox Church is considering accepting “hundreds of clergymen of the Patriarchate of Alexandria” under its jurisdiction, according to a statement from the deputy head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Leonid.
According to the hierarch during a radio interview, hundreds of clergymen of the Patriarchate of Alexandria who disagree with the decision of Patriarch Theodore to recognize the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine have addressed the Russian Orthodox Church.
After such indirect blackmail to the Patriarchate of Alexandria, taking into account the illegality and the danger of such manipulation on the part of the Russian Orthodox Church, in the same interview, the Russian hierarch hastened to cover his back by saying that, even though the Russian Orthodox Church examines these requests, it tries to restrain the clergymen who have asked to pass under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Moscow as, as he said, the Russian Orthodox Church does not pursue an expansionist policy but is in favor of honest and proper relations among the Churches.
