Metropolitan Nikiphoros of Kykkos accused the Ecumenical Patriarch of creating “a tremendous schism that puts pan-Orthodox unity in danger” at the conference on primacy and synodicality that is organized by the Russian Orthodox Church and is held in Moscow.
The Metropolitan of Kykkos once again ignored the decisions of the Holy Synod of the Church of Cyprus, to which the Metropolitan belongs, on the Ukrainian autocephaly, but also the warnings addressed by Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus.
The Metropolitan stated that “due to the geopolitical situation, Cyprus to follow the line of Euro-American policy and everything else that goes with such a policy.”
Fully aligned with the Russian positions, he spoke of “full degradation of the sacred institution of Autocephaly” in the case of Ukraine, which brought “even greater unrest and division” in both Ukraine and Orthodoxy.
He emphasized that the Patriarchate of Moscow… did well by severing the eucharistic communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Church of Greece and the Patriarchate of Alexandria, as, according to him, “the sacred canons were violated by the unilateral interventions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which is not its own canonical territory,” while the decision of Moscow “is correct and justified because it is canonically documented and in accordance with the timeless ecclesiastical practice.”
Interestingly, the Church of Cyprus is not among the Churches with which the Moscow Patriarchate has severed the eucharistic communion.
In the end, the Metropolitan of Kykkos referred to the “ambitions” of the Ecumenical Patriarch that “now extend to the whole Church as he claims to interfere to the internal affairs of the local Orthodox Patriarchates and Autocephalous Churches.”
Archbishop of Cyprus: The statements of Metropolitan of Kykkos are out of touch
Asked to comment on the presence of the two Metropolitans at the conference organized by the Patriarchate of Moscow (Metropolitan Isaias of Tamasos also attended the conference), the Archbishop of Cyprus stated that the Metropolitan’s statements “are out of touch.”
As reported by politis.com.cy, Archbishop Chrysostomos commented that he commemorated the Patriarch of Moscow, but he did not know whether the Patriarch did so.
For the two Metropolitans, he stated they should not have taken part in the conference, as well as that a decision had been made by the Holy Synod regarding the Ukrainian autocephaly that they did not respect.
He added that it was not worth arguing with them, as the Holy Synod agreed with the Archbishop and not with the Metropolitans who were in favor of Moscow’s view of the Ukrainian autocephaly issue.