Protopresbyterian Nikolai Balashov talked in a negative and offensive manner about the decision of the Hierarchy of the Church of Greece, which is not considered “appropriate” for equal interlocutors of the two Sister Churches. His attitude also betrayed a kind of superiority of one church towards an inferior one.
The vice-chairman of the Department of the External Church Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow said to Sputnik that: “Even though many Metropolitans set their objection to the decision-making down for the moment, the Committee of the Hierarchs of the Church of Greece decided in favour of the recognition of the autocephaly of the ‘Church of Ukraine’. However, it expressed the hope that the ‘autocephaly’ of the Church of Ukraine could strengthen the relations between the two Sister Churches.”
“The consequences of this decision on the relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Church of Greece will be evaluated by the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow.”
The leading figure of the Patriarchate of Moscow talked offensively and he seemed to be undermining the authority of the Church of Greece by comparing it to the Patriarchate of Moscow. In particular, he said, “The entire territory of Greece is not under the jurisdiction of the Church of Greece. On the contrary, the Russian Orthodox Church is as an international church and does not only address believers who live in Russia.”
