by Romfea.news
In the presence of a multitude of believers, the First Sunday of the Holy and Great Lent, the Sunday of the victory of Orthodoxy and of
the restoration of the sacred icons, was celebrated at the Metochi of the Holy Monastery of Kykkos in Nicosia.
Metropolitan Nikiphoros of Kykkos and Tillyria officiated in the Matins and then performed the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great.
In his speech, Metropolitan Nikiphoros stressed that “Orthodoxy at an ecumenical level is presented with its unity cracked.”
“Granting the Tomos of Autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has triggered severe side effects,” the Metropolitan said. In addition, he stressed that “this crisis is rapidly deteriorating, at the risk, if not dealt in time, of causing a Schism, with unexpected consequences.”
“In the face of this dramatic situation, none of the Orthodox Autocephalous Churches has the right to silence and become complacent,” he noted.
“In my humble opinion,” the Metropolitan emphasized, “the solution to the problem that has arisen and is now plaguing Orthodoxy is one and simple, but hard to attain: It is the bloody rule of love and humiliation. “Without the Holy Law of Christ,” as Dostoevsky says, “brotherhood will never reign”; and the law of Christ is humiliation and love, as he noted.
“The complete restoration of the unity of the Orthodox Church and the avoidance of a painful Schism is an urgent need, not only for Orthodoxy, but also for Culture and History,” he added.
The only solution regarding the Ukrainian issue, according to him, is to convene as soon as possible a Pan-Orthodox Synod, or, if this is too difficult, to hold a Synaxis of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches, who, without the levers of political pressure, should discuss for a final settlement for the Ukrainian ecclesiastical problem.
