What decided and did not decide Constantinople about the church of Ukraine

The Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate approved the text of the Tomos on the autocephaly of the future united Ukrainian church, as well as the draft of its charter, but did not name the date for the unification council at which this church should be established. Many observers who were interested in following the course of the synod both in Istanbul itself and to the north of it were left disappointed.

Фото: Depositphotos

If the synods of the Ecumenical Patriarchate were given names, this one would certainly be called “Wet”.

All these three days - from Tuesday to Thursday - it rained almost continuously in Istanbul: nasty, cold, mostly from above, but at times also in the horizontal direction.

Journalists who arrived at the residence of the Patriarch of Constantinople huddled unhappily in the cramped press room, occasionally leaving it only to tune into the live broadcast of their TV channels with a promising message: “We are waiting for a decision on Ukraine.”

More did not happen, it seems, nothing.

Even the cats, a great many of which live on the territory of the Patriarchate - some of them already seem to respond to the nickname Tomos - tried to hide from the rain inside the Patriarchate building and did not particularly protest when they were rather unceremoniously expelled from there, apparently by specially trained people.

“What does rain symbolize in your culture? Money, sorrow, happiness, misfortune?” - largely out of despair, a BBC correspondent turned to one of the Patriarchate employees on the third day of rain, that is, the synod.

A Greek by nationality, he answered philosophically: “Rather, we think of it as a phenomenon, after which improvement always comes. Something after which there will definitely be good weather.”

He wanted to believe. But the rain did not stop, and the news did not all appear.

Great expectations

Two weeks ago, the Patriarchate of Constantinople declared that it was at this meeting of the synod that he would determine the date of the unifying council of the Ukrainian autocephalous church that had not yet been created.

Bishops from unrecognized churches, plus supporters of the independence of the Ukrainian church from the Moscow Patriarchate, should gather for it.

It is the council that must formally establish the church, adopt its charter and elect a primate: in essence, turn supporters of autocephaly into a single structure - the future local church.

But shortly before the synod, the Kyiv authorities - and the Ukrainian president is an ardent supporter of autocephaly and uses the corresponding slogans with might and main on his election billboards - upped the ante.

Last Friday, Petro Poroshenko announced that he was sending his adviser Rostislav Pavlenko to the synod in Istanbul, who has been closely involved in the topic of autocephaly for a long time.

“[Pavlenko] is moving to Constantinople to participate in the historical synod, where a decision will be made on approving the tomos (church independence letters)“,” Poroshenko said.

That is, they expected a lot from this synod.

"Everything will be fine"

But at first they received only the most unpleasant rain, which seemed to take away any desire to do important things.

And the Ukrainian question was, without a doubt, important: it was because of it that last month the largest church in the Orthodox world - the Russian - broke off relations with the “first in honor” Orthodox Church - the Constantinople.

Maybe that is why the synod took up the Ukrainian issue only after lunch on the second day of the meeting - when it seemed there was no longer any time to delay.

The patriarchal exarchs, sent to Ukraine in September and all this time intensively meeting with representatives of the local authorities and clergy, and now taking part in the meetings of the synod, leaving the patriarchate, tensely promised journalists: “Everything will be fine.”

The representative of the Ukrainian government Rostislav Pavlenko, who met with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on Monday, also radiated optimism, promising that everything would be not only good, but very soon.

Pavlenko, contrary to rumors, did not participate in the meetings of the synod, but in four days in Istanbul he held a number of meetings, including with high hierarchs of Constantinople. I mean, I knew something.

But the decision of the synod, which would explain his optimism, was not all.

Even when the synod completed the work and its members went to the church of St. George through the courtyard of the Patriarchate, the journalists waited: the communique of the decision of the synod needed to be translated from Greek into English, and then assured of the patriarch.

Guest from Russia

But this turned out to be not so simple: immediately after the service, Patriarch Bartholomew had a meeting planned with the delegation of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy - read, with its head, State Duma deputy Sergei Gavrilov.

In the current situation of the church crisis between Moscow and Constantinople, this meeting was more than important.

She lasted an hour. They talked mainly about Ukraine. After the audience, everyone remained in their positions.

“All participants in the conversation were extremely polite. But we didn’t hear anything new, Gavrilov promoted messages that we have been hearing from Russia for a long time,” a source in the Ecumenical Patriarchate told the BBC.

“Bartholomew is preparing to resolve the issue of autocephaly in December... He is sure that Ukraine has suffered a lot, and it needs autocephaly. He believes that Russia will come to terms with this circumstance,” Sergei Gavrilov told the BBC after the meeting with the Patriarch.

Soon after the delegation headed by the State Duma deputy left the patriarchate, several dozens of journalists were waiting for news for several hours at the press center.

But this turned out to be not so simple: immediately after the service, Patriarch Bartholomew had a meeting planned with the delegation of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy - read, with its head, State Duma deputy Sergei Gavrilov.

In the current situation of the church crisis between Moscow and Constantinople, this meeting was more than important.

Фото: Depositphotos

She lasted an hour. They talked mainly about Ukraine. After the audience, everyone remained in their positions.

“Bartholomew is preparing to resolve the issue of autocephaly in December... He is sure that Ukraine has suffered a lot, and it needs autocephaly. He believes that Russia will come to terms with this circumstance,” Sergei Gavrilov told the BBC after the meeting with the Patriarch.

Soon after the delegation headed by the State Duma deputy left the patriarchate, several dozens of journalists were waiting for news for several hours at the press center.

In the corner where journalists from Kyiv were sitting - and Ukrainian and Russian journalists occupied different parts of the hall - there was a disappointed sigh.

The short—less than a page—final communiqué contained only one point concerning Ukraine, and it contained neither news about the tomos nor the date of the council.

“In the context of the previously adopted decision by the Ecumenical Patriarchate to grant autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine and in preparation for the publication of... the tomos... the synod prepared a draft of the founding charter of the Ukrainian church,” it said.

“Zrada,” was heard in the “Ukrainian corner.”

What did not appear in the communique

However, very soon it turned out that a number of important news on the topic of Ukrainian autocephaly did not get into the press release of the synod.

First they were informed by the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko: in an unannounced address to the people beforehand, he said that the synod of Constantinople had made historic decisions: approved the text of Tomos on granting independence to the Ukrainian church and set the date for the unifying council.

“Moscow - the state and the Russian church, FSB officers and clergy, some in uniform, some in cassocks, some in crosses, some in stripes - were not afraid of any sin, just to thwart this decision. But the Lord was with us,” Poroshenko solemnly declared.

A BBC source in the Ecumenical Patriarchate, close to the decision-making process, confirmed: the synod did indeed approve the text of the Thomos and the charter of the church that was not yet created.

The Tomos - according to the BBC, it will be a fairly short document of three pages of text - has already been prepared in its final form, no changes will be made to it.

He, according to Rostislav Pavlenko, provides for the complete independence of the Ukrainian church and its entry into the family of the fourteen existing local churches on an equal basis.

The charter of the new church - the secular “passport” of the church - is based on the ideology of the tomos of autocephaly. The draft of this document will be submitted for approval to the participants of the council, which will create a new church.

And Tomos, and the charter, say the BBC interlocutors are ready.

“The state did (to create a new church) everything that could and should have been done... The Ecumenical Throne also did everything in its power... There is only one step left until the end of the process. Now our Orthodox hierarchs need to get together and hold a unification council,” said the Ukrainian president.

What's next?

The BBC interlocutors in Kiev and Istanbul claim that the synod of the Constantinople Patriarchate, as promised, decided on a specific date for the unification council of the new church, but this information was not consciously included in the final communiqué of the synod.

Both Ukrainian and Constantinople interlocutors of the BBC say that the Ecumenical Patriarchate is not going to depart from the already announced intention to hold this event in December of this year.

In the end, Sergey Gavrilov confirms this information after negotiations with Patriarch Bartholomew.

In the near future in Ukraine should begin preparations for the cathedral. All bishops of all Orthodox jurisdictions, including the Moscow Patriarchate, will receive invitations to participate in the creation of a new church.

According to Rostislav Pavlenko, the Ecumenical Patriarchate may inform the public as early as next week at a specific date for the council.

Bishops who wish to participate in the cathedral will arrive in Kiev: most likely, it will be held in the Sofia Cathedral of the 11th century in the center of the Ukrainian capital, now a historical and cultural reserve and not used by any Orthodox church in the country.

The agenda of this meeting will be formed by a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, sent to moderate the council in Kiev - according to the BBC, it is most likely about Metropolitan Emmanuel (Adamakis) of Gallia, who is called the curator of the “Ukrainian issue” in Constantinople. However, it is already obvious that the participants of the cathedral will face three primary tasks: to form a new church, accept its charter and elect a primate.

After that, the newly elected primate will have to arrive in Istanbul, where he will receive a tomos signed by all members of the synod of Constantinople Patriarchate as part of a special procedure involving his co-service with the Ecumenical Patriarch.

It is the presentation of the tomos that can be considered the moment of birth of the independent Ukrainian church.

“That is why this document is not shown now - because it is a non-public, unique document, given once to one person,” Rostislav Pavlenko patiently explained the vicissitudes of the creation of a new church to journalists cowering in the pouring rain not far from the residence of the Ecumenical Patriarch.

When the last journalist asked Pavlenko the last question, he apologized: they say, because of us, shark feathers, you are so wet.

However, the resident of Kiev seemed to shine with happiness.

“Rain on the road is fortunate,” he said smiling and quickly headed towards one of the narrow Istanbul streets.

Read also on ForumDaily:

To believe: the Russian Orthodox Church broke off relations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople

Autocephaly for Ukraine: what Constantinople really decided

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