AN APPEAL FROM METROPOLITAN FEODOSIY OF CHERKASY TO HIS HOLINESS PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW OF CONSTANTINOPLE

Your Holiness, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople!

I am addressing you on behalf of the numerous and long-suffering flock and clergy, monastics and believers of the Diocese of Cherkasy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Please do not regard my direct address to you as a manifestation of some audacity or non-compliance with the church etiquette or protocol. I have two weighty reasons therefor.

The first one is that at the time, long before the events pertaining to the granting of the Tomos to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), when you and I served together and conversed at the ancient Sumela Monastery, and also had long conversations at the Phanar, you yourself gave me this right: to talk to you directly about problems of Orthodoxy in Ukraine. And I will sin before God and before men if I do not exercise this right now. And the second reason is the tragic circumstances in which my diocese, as well as the entire Orthodoxy in Ukraine, now finds itself.

The Diocese of Cherkasy, led by me, is one of the dioceses in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which have suffered the most. It has suffered from the hands of, I will say with words of the Gospel, 'thieves and robbers' from the so-called 'Orthodox Church of Ukraine', who have not 'entered by the door' the Church fence, but have 'climbed up some other way' (John 10:1). They have done it by your decision, Your Holiness. And now they, as thieves and robbers, boss in the vineyard of Christ. They beat up and wound servants of the True Master — Christ, they divide His children's clothing among themselves, they overturn baskets and trample grapes. OCU members have not been punished for their crimes in Cherkasy, and their evils have yet to receive a proper moral assessment on your part, Your Holiness. Although all of us here in Ukraine waited for it a lot.

You recently gave an interview to French television. It coincided with a visit of the leader of the 'Orthodox Church of Ukraine', established with your blessing, Epifaniy Dumenko, to my cathedral city of Cherkasy. He performed his action, which I dare not call a divine service, in Cherkasy in my Cathedral Church, bloodily seized by militants less than a year ago. The blood of monks and priests had not dried out on slabs of the Cathedral yet, the wounds on the bodies of the Cherkasy confessors of the faith have not healed yet, and Mr Dumenko already came to the Cathedral, which was not his, and unlawfully ascended my cathedra. He performed his action on stolen liturgical vessels, including the Chalice presented personally to me by my spiritual children on the occasion of my episcopal ordination many years ago. He was served by altar boys in liturgical sticharia taken away from us by force. And meanwhile, icons of saints whom adherents of the OCU did not consider to be saints for political reasons were piled at the gallery of the Cathedral.

The largest Orthodox church in Ukraine, the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael in Cherkasy, was seized by supporters of Epifaniy in October last year. During the seizure, priests, monks, and laypeople were hurt. They were poisoned with tear gas, their arms, legs, teeth, and heads were broken. They were shot at right inside the Cathedral. My cassock was torn apart on me, my staff was broken, and then I was hit in the head with a club with such force that I had a concussion. Only my monastic klobuk, which softened the blow, saved me from sure death. Shortly before the blow and before the concussion, I was able to address you, Your Holiness, from the chancel, besieged by terrorists, wherein we sat like hostages. I am certain that you have seen this address.

The corrupt agencies of the police, of the prosecutor's office, and of other secret services have not given a proper assessment of these crimes of OCU members and their armed mercenaries yet, and they appear to have no intention to give it at all. And this despite the fact that the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael in Cherkasy de jure continues to be owned by the Diocese of Cherkasy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, led by me, while the invaders use it merely by the 'right of force'.

The Constitution and the laws virtually do not function in Ukraine now, so the absence of response to these crimes on the part of the Ukrainian authorities and law enforcement agencies is no surprise.

But whyever have you, Your Holiness, yet to forbid your protégés from the OCU to commit these evils? After all, you have the fullness of power over them pursuant to the Tomos issued by you. After all, you so often declare that 'the Ukrainian Orthodox people are in your heart'. So why do you not stop these perpetrators? If we are 'in your heart', why have you not even said at least a word of compassion or support to the beaten and hurt believing residents of Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, and other regions of Ukraine?

Even the United Nations has already given a proper assessment of the events in Cherkasy, condemning these crimes based upon religion and calling upon the authorities of Ukraine to respond urgently. The UN rung the alarm bell, UN officials (Special Rapporteurs) drew particular attention to the forcible seizure of the Cathedral Church in Cherkasy and the bloody beatdown of its defenders, including me, in their official document. The UN urged to immediately investigate this crime.

But we have ultimately not received words of compassion or support from you.

In your interview to French television, you said that you did not regret creating the so-called 'Orthodox Church of Ukraine'. And you are very wrong in not regretting it!

Our Church was in a very similar situation after the October coup d'etat in the early XX century, when the new Bolshevik authorities organised the persecution of Christians. They persecuted the Church, in particular, with the hands of the newly created pseudo-Church of the Renovationists. Unfortunately, at the time, your predecessor on your see, Patriarch Gregory VII of Constantinople, took the side of the Renovationists and legitimised them. Patriarch Gregory not only demanded that the Holy Patriarch and Confessor Tikhon abdicate his throne but also, through his representative, Archimandrite Basil, blessed the false council of the schismatic Renovationists. He blessed it through his Epistle with the words, 'I am with you in absentia!' This very representative of the Patriarchate of Constantinople was formally an honourary member of the Renovationist false council and constantly participated in schismatic blasphemous 'divine services' in the 1920s.

Now, a century later, the situation is repeated with an almost 100 % similarity. The state authorities of Ukraine persecute our Church and do everything for her total destruction. The 'Orthodox Church of Ukraine', created with your immediate participation, directly takes part in it.

Then, in the XX century, our people magnanimously forgave your predecessor his betrayal of our Church and his collaboration with the communists in her persecution.

Will our believing people forgive this time as well is a big question. For much blood and suffering was brought to our land by the schismatics whom you let into the Church, who were let in bypassing the door, without repentance, without legitimate ordinations. They were let in 'some other way', as said in the Holy Gospel (John 10:1).

So, it was very strange to hear your words that the unification of the OCU with our Church would become possible in years or decades. Believe me, it will not happen, like there cannot be a unification of Christ with Belial. That is why your current unwavering position, expressed to French television, is very dangerous and destructive. It has every chance of becoming a trigger for a second great schism in the Church.

I remember from my personal conversation with you that you would like to become an active participant in the healing of the first great schism in the Church in 1054. But in fact, you, Your Holiness, may cause a second great and irreversible schism of world Orthodoxy. And if you fail to realise it now, your successors on the see, who will have to clean these Augean stables, will sooner or later realise it anyway. Whether they will manage to clean them is unknown. But it will definitely tarnish your name in church history.

And today, given the obvious iniquities of the OCU, you, Your Holiness, have all the moral and canonical reasons to put an end to them and stop the persecution of the Church in Ukraine. You presently have not only a multitude of reasons but also all the leverage to correct this tragic mistake. For its fruit has already become apparent for the entire oikumene.

Yes, it is not easy to change one's decisions even for a simple, ordinary man, let alone a hierarch in such a respected status and esteemed age as yours. But could it be that you put any personal honour or even the honour of the see held by you higher than the real salvation of world Orthodoxy from a new great schism? Could it be that personal honour will prevent you from stopping the sufferings of millions of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine?

It is impossible to believe this. I do not want to believe this.

Your Holiness, the faithful in Ukraine will not believe this as long as you are alive. They, bleeding with their blood of confessors, will hope that the Lord will give you a change of mind and a change of your decisions! For we are presently subjected to actual persecution from the godless authorities in Ukraine and their loyal servants — the so-called 'clergy' of the OCU.

Surely, just revoking the Tomos given by you to the 'Orthodox Church of Ukraine' will not be enough to correct the situation. The main thing which will currently be able to calm the turmoil in world Orthodoxy, reconcile its hierarchs from different countries, and heal the nascent new great schism is the cancellation of your legitimisation of Ukrainian schismatics. They must repent of the sin of schism, and only then will it be possible to raise the matter of performing their legitimate ordinations. At the same time, these matters absolutely cannot be resolved without the participation of the rightful Mother Church for Ukrainian Orthodoxy — the Russian Orthodox Church — irrespective of any current political problems.

And this, in turn, will be impossible to be done without your rejection of the teaching of 'primus sine paribus', which is alien to the spirit of the Church's Conciliarity and which you personally openly proclaimed for the first time on air on French television. But all of it must necessarily be done. Otherwise, canonical order and justice will not eventually be restored in world Orthodoxy. And hence, the bleeding wound of a new schism will not eventually be healed, and 2019 will become the same tragic milestone for the Church as 1054 did at the time.

We hope, Your Holiness, for your wisdom and your capability to humble yourself before the paths of God, which the Lord reveals so obviously for the entire Orthodox world today. He reveals them in the feat of the confession of a Martyr Church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He also reveals them in the anti-Christian behaviour and malice of the artificially created OCU.

Today, both the future peace of the oikoumene and the potential irreversible schism of world Orthodoxy are in your hands. We ask you not to commit a fatal mistake, Your Holiness.

Source: https://t.me/EpTheodosius/1504

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PGhTDmsnVo