In his recent statements on Telegram, the Chairman of the Department for Church’s Society and Mass Mediа Relations, Vladimir Legoyda, said that the Patriarchate of Moscow was aiming at changing its pastoral practices in Africa. So, he implicitly reveals the expansive policy of the Patriarchate of Moscow, which opposes both the Phanar and other Patriarchates. In addition, the Patriarchate of Moscow is exerting pressure on the Patriarchate of Alexandria, because it recognised the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
Following the issue of the Tomos of Autocephaly in Kyiv and the dissolution of the Exarchate of Russian parishes in Western Europe, the Patriarchate of Moscow announced that it was taken to establish an Exarchate in Europe, Far East, and South-East Asia. However, these are regions that fall under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Similar measures are likely to be taken by other Churches that recognised the new Church.
Moreover, the Patriarchate of Moscow severed full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Church of Greece, and the Patriarchate of Alexandria, and said that the Russians who live in the areas aforementioned had no longer pastoral care from the Church. So, under the pretext of the issue of the autocephaly of the Church of Ukraine, the Patriarchate of Moscow reveals its real objectives. In other words, it is now clear that even though it is not canonical, the Patriarchate of Moscow aims at expanding its ecclesiastical jurisdiction in regions that fall under the jurisdiction of other Orthodox Churches.
