By Efi Efthimiou
A new meeting similar to the one held about a year ago in Jordan is being sought by the Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk.
Insisting once again on the conflict with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Metropolitan of Volokolamsk – with “crutch” Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem – promotes division in the Orthodox Church.
In an interview with the TV show “Church and the World”, the Metropolitan of Volokolamsk said that the meeting in the “Amman scheme” – when the restrictions due to the pandemic are relaxed – “is necessary”.
Metropolitan Hilarion essentially… pressures the Patriarch of Jerusalem to convene a new meeting, stating that Patriarch Theophilos “is the head of the oldest orthodox Patriarchate.”
On the contrary, referring to the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarch to convene such meetings, Metropolitan Hilarion stressed that this right was lost, “because Patriarch Bartholomew joined the schism, co-officiated with the schismatics and lost legitimacy among the Orthodox Churches”.
In fact, he argues that if the Ecumenical Patriarch now wants to convene such meetings, “some Churches may participate, but too many, under various pretexts, will avoid it.”
In this way, the Metropolitan of the Moscow Patriarchate, in effect, annuls the rights and jurisdictions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and grants them – in a sense – to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which “pushes” to operate at the will of Moscow.
He also continues the tension with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, stating that Patriarch Bartholomew “takes decisions to the detriment of other local churches”, creating a schism and deepening it.
