Pope and Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and All Africa characterizes the Patriarchate of Moscow as a “thief in the night”.
In an interview with the newspaper “Parapolitika”, the Patriarch expressed his disapproval of the way in which the Orthodox Church was involved in the war against Ukraine, pointing out that “it should act as a factor of peace, stability, and balance.”
Referring to the major problems of our time, he believes that these are based on “individuality, selfishness, alienation, and distance from other people”.
As he characteristically pointed out, the Patriarchate of Moscow, “inspired by highly authoritarian tendencies of domination over the whole of Orthodoxy, wishing to rule monarchically and to drag the entire Orthodox Church under its authority, abolishing the entire theological and canonical tradition of the Orthodox Church, appeared in Africa like a thief in the night, defying the centuries-old ecclesiastical institutions and the sacred canons of the Church.
The action of the Patriarchate of Moscow outside the limits of its ecclesiastical jurisdiction injures the soul and the immaculate of our Orthodox faith, and of course, it insults Orthodoxy. Admittedly, the Patriarchate of Moscow, driven by the rigidities of the past and highly selfish behaviors, embraces the state and the political aspirations of the respective classes of the Russian state, with results always, as history teaches us, very painful for the Russian Orthodox people.
Regarding the stance of Patriarch Kirill and the Moscow Patriarchate on the issue of the war with Ukraine, Patriarch Theodore stressed that there are cases where the Church supports the struggle for the liberation of peoples from enslavement and the expulsion of conquerors.
In the case of Ukraine, however, it is an aggressive war, in which the victims are brothers. For this reason, the Patriarchate should be very careful in this regard, it should act as a factor of peace, stability, and balance.
In this way, the Ukrainian ecclesiastical issue would be resolved smoothly, without intra-Orthodox tensions and conflicts, and perhaps the Russian Federation’s dispute with Ukraine would not have gone to extremes. Unfortunately, the Patriarchate of Moscow has entered the geopolitical game and I do not know how it will disengage,” the Patriarch of Alexandria noted.
Finally, he expressed his love for the loyal Russian people, “to whom I wish from the bottom of my heart to soon find peace and devote themselves to projects of peace and prosperity,” he said.
