By Kostas Onisenko
The Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, attacked verbally once again Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
Speaking on the show “Church and the World,” which is broadcast by the state-owned news channel “Russia-24,” the Metropolitan referred to the recent visit of the Ecumenical Patriarch to Ukraine, saying: “On this visit, I would like to remind you the words of the Gospel of John: ‘Anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.
The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep’,” said Metropolitan Hilarion, apparently referring to the Ecumenical Patriarch as a “thief” and a “robber.”
Elsewhere, the Metropolitan of Volokolamsk said: “This visit took place at the invitation of the state leadership and the schismatics. But most of the faithful not only ignored this visit but also showed in a clear way that Patriarch Bartholomew is not a shepherd for them.”
Metropolitan Hilarion described the visit as “irrational and shameful; only one person is to blame, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople,” ignoring the fact that tens of thousands of Ukrainians welcomed the Ecumenical Patriarch with great love.
At the same time, the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church described the representatives of the Church of Ukraine as “schismatic,” despite the fact that the procedure for granting the Autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is not different from the corresponding procedure followed for other Churches, including the Patriarchate of Moscow.