®Monomakhos

Why Can’t Bartholomew Stay Out of Ukraine?

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Patriarch Bartholomew sent a delegation to Ukraine to see about bringing the UOC, temporarily, under his omophorion, whatever that means.  Emmanuel of Chalcedon, Archbishop Elpidophoros, and Metropolitan Tikhon are involved somehow.  Something about a teensy bit of time as an exarchate.

Hasn’t he done enough?

That this is coming at the conclusion of the war is no big surprise because they all just ran out of time.  I sincerely doubt that Patriarch Kirill is going to stand there and watch Bartholomew take the UOC in any capacity.   None of the local Churches will accept this.  Whatever promises he’s making, he won’t keep.

As much as I admire and respect Metropolitan Onufriy, he cannot canonically give the UOC to Bartholomew or anyone else. The UOC is under the Moscow Patriarchate and any changes to the UOC would have to go through them.  This is the reason he could not declare autocephaly; only independence in a effort to stay alive, if I had to guess.

Do you think they’re going to just hand everything over to Bartholomew?!  A man who didn’t lift a finger to tell his OCU thugs to back off?  No.  Ukraine is just going to be mired in further scandal.  He is scared that Patriarch Kirill will reassert himself in Ukraine and he’s trying to beat him to the punch.

Ukraine and the OCU banned the UOC (a war crime because they are being displaced).

Bartholomew didn’t get the memo.  It’s not the same country that it was in 2018.  Epiphany has tired of Bartholomew.  He wants to be rid of him which I think might just happen.  The OCU could go back to being the schismatic church that they always were only bigger due to the theft of the parishes and monasteries they hijacked.  That would be just fine with the rest of the Church because it would mean everything Bartholomew did was for naught.

Here are a few more resources:

1)  Sergii Bortnyk, Professor of the Kyiv theological academy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church  https://orthodoxtimes.com/legislative-ban-on-the-uoc-as-a-chance-for-reconciliation-among-orthodox-churches-in-ukraine/

2)  Orthodox Reflections  https://orthodoxreflections.com/archbishop-elpidophoros-misplaced-priorities/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_source_platform=mailpoet&utm_campaign=the-last-newsletter-total-posts-from-orthodox-reflections_2

3)  https://orthodoxtimes.com/ecumenical-patriarchate-delegation-meets-with-metropolitan-epifaniy-a-call-for-open-dialogue/

 

Comments

  1. “Bishop Chaput Resists Francis Again and Vatican Changes the Translation”
    https://onepeterfive.com/bishop-chaput-resists-francis-again-and-vatican-changes-the-translation/?utm_source=1P5&utm_campaign=4b5fdfb4b0-1P5_DAILYRSS_EMAIL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_7ee622bcbb-4b5fdfb4b0-28305195&mc_cid=4b5fdfb4b0&mc_eid=0d1dd27b48

    ‘ Last week we discussed the significant linguistic issue in the Vatican translation of the Pope’s Italian statement “Tutte le religioni sono un cammino per arrivare a Dio” which the live translator translated as “every religion is way to arrive at God.”

    In English, this phrase is heresy, pure and simple.

    The word “way” in English means a “possibility whereby” and “arrive” in English means to achieve a destination. This phrase in English means that idolatry is a way to God.

    In other words, the 1st commandment of the Ten Commandments is null and void.

    So, understandably, the Vatican’s English translation changed this phrase to say this: “Religions are seen as paths trying to reach God.”

    This latter phrase, in English, is not heresy. “Seen” and “trying” are expressing attempts to reach God, not the possibility, and not the ability or power to do so. Before we move to what the Vatican did subsequently, here again is the full Italian paragraph which is the official Italian text and the original language, together with the video of some of these sentences (with the live translator):
    https://x.com/MLJHaynes/status/1834519918907150455?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1834519918907150455%7Ctwgr%5E6f656c37366fbf9f2a13b7ffeaa95f980f1f8dba%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fonepeterfive.com%2Fbishop-chaput-resists-francis-again-and-vatican-changes-the-translation%2F

    Tutte le religioni sono un cammino per arrivare a Dio. Sono – faccio un paragone – come diverse lingue, diversi idiomi, per arrivare lì. Ma Dio è Dio per tutti. E poiché Dio è Dio per tutti, noi siamo tutti figli di Dio. “Ma il mio Dio è più importante del tuo!”. È vero questo? C’è un solo Dio, e noi, le nostre religioni sono lingue, cammini per arrivare a Dio. Qualcuno sikh, qualcuno musulmano, qualcuno indù, qualcuno cristiano, ma sono diversi cammini.

    … And what does the Vatican website say now? At the time of this writing on September 17th, here’s the new official English rendition:
    https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2024/september/documents/20240913-singapore-giovani.html

    All religions are paths to God. I will use an analogy, they are like different languages that express the divine. But God is for everyone, and therefore, we are all God’s children. “But my God is more important than yours!”. Is this true? There is only one God, and religions are like languages, paths to reach God.Some Sikh, some Muslim, some Hindu, some Christian.

    … First of all, the new English translation again omits the Italian phrase “ma sono diversi cammini (but they are different paths [to God]).” Yet now the English correctly translates the first two phrases in the heretical manner. “All religions are paths to reach God” and “…like languages, paths to reach God.” The English is not as strongly heretical as the live translator rendered it when he said “arrive at God,” but the English is still worse than the original English official text. So the most strongly heretical English was the live translator, the “new official English” is slightly less heretical, but not by much, and the “first official English” was not heretical at all.

    It would seem that by changing the English, the Vatican is admitting [asserting?] that there is no orthodox way to interpret these words of Pope Francis.

    (In pricipio erat Verbum. You see how important every word is? Indeed: there was once a worldwide Christian battle over one letter: an iota.) … ‘

  2. Bartholomew has painted himself in an isolated corner. Rumors about a new Unia abound, who knows how true they are. But becoming a foreign office of the US State Department and CIA was a serious mistake. Alas, he simply inherited that arrangement. There is a war between the West and the East/South. It is both cold and hot but getting hotter by the day. Constantinople is in Turkey, of all places. And Greece is on the easternmost edge of the western world with a cultural foot in both Europe and West Asia (the Med). And, of course, most Orthodox are in Eastern Europe and Russia.

    The capital and standard bearer of the East/South forces is Russia. The capital and standard bearer of the West forces is Washington, DC. DC is precisely to whom Bartholomew is enthralled as a vassal. This is a precarious position in which to find oneself. If your people are the Orthodox, you have arrayed yourself against your own people. Of course, he sees his people as the Greeks who have a colorable claim to being part of the West, perhaps with an asterisk since it is also a font of Eastern Orthodox culture and religion.

    But of course, this is all by design of Foggy Bottom and Langley. They know what they are doing, at least in broad strokes. It is unclear to me whether Bartholomew is even mindful about the implications of his actions. He seems to just be championing Team Greek as a dhimmi for the New Ottomans (DC).

    But it may not matter in the long run. In reality, he only represents the Greek corner of the Church. Some of the Church of Greece and, of course, Alexandria, are with him. I assume GOA is with him until they demonstrate otherwise. But that’s a very small slice of world Orthodoxy. At most, this will cause a schism within the Greek Church. Politics pass over time and schisms can often be healed. This is especially so when the political dynamics which caused the schism cease to exist.

    If the East/South wins across the board, which seems likely, then the political wind will begin blowing far and wide toward the East. Erdogan seems like he’s flirting with changing sides. He’s Bartholomew’s master. It may be that Constantinople/Alexandria are simply temporarily odd man out until the course of political development becomes clearer to them. Bear in mind you are talking about old men psychologically stuck in bygone eras.

  6. Alexander Dugin is a philosopher.
    Therefore not all he says makes sense.
    However, this does…

    Alexander Dugin | A Right-Left Union against Liberals
    https://katehon.com/en/article/right-left-union-against-liberals

    ‘ In the West, there are both excellent right-wing and very respectable left-wing figures. For instance, the AfD (Alternative for Germany) is a remarkable right-wing movement, and Sahra Wagenknecht is an outstanding leftist. In the United States, there are right-wing figures like Trump and Vance, but also leftists like Tulsi Gabbard and Kennedy. This pattern exists everywhere.

    However, there are also globalists — like Mélenchon, who, in a critical moment, saved liberal Macron from the people’s uprising led by Marine Le Pen. Additionally, there are European far-right individuals who join forces with Nazis from the Azov battalion to fight against us. These far-right individuals conveniently ignore the fact that Zelensky is a Jewish liberal clown, a drug addict, and a pervert. How can these people be considered right-wing? They are merely service dogs on the liberal NATO leash.

    This situation is mirrored in our own country. We have honest right-wing patriots, Orthodox Christians, monarchists, and even (God forgive them, they do not understand what they are calling themselves) “ethnic Russian nationalists” — who, in truth, are holding the front lines. Equally, there are honest left-wing patriots who are heroes of the Special Military Operation. But then, there is also the scum that attacks Putin from the right and Ilyin1 from the left. It is the same story everywhere.

    Thus, both the right and the left can have reasonable, honorable people, but they can also have those who are not. However…

    When it comes to liberals, it is a different story. There are no good liberals. All liberals are aligned with the world government and Western hegemony. Anyone on their side is an absolute enemy of both true right-wing and true left-wing people. This is because capitalism is pure evil and must be destroyed from both the right and the left, simultaneously.

    It is liberals — people like Soros — who manipulate unaware “right-wingers” and corrupt, decaying “left-wingers” to serve their own interests.

    We need a union of the right and the left against the liberals. This is what we need, both within Russia and beyond.

    True right-wing and left-wing figures represent the people. Liberals, on the other hand, represent the comprador elite. There are no good liberals. A good liberal is one who is absent or, at the very least, a former liberal. There is no use trying to argue that not all liberals are the same — they are. The right and the left can be different. But all liberals are united.

    1. Translator’s note: Ilyin refers to Ivan Ilyin (1883-1954), a Russian philosopher, monarchist, political theorist, and prominent figure in the Russian émigré community after the Bolshevik Revolution. He is best known for his conservative views and his advocacy for a Russian authoritarian state based on Orthodox Christian principles. ‘

  7. “That this is coming at the conclusion of the war is no big surprise because they all just ran out of time.”

    This really is the crux of it. If Ukraine was wining the war then there is no way they would even be having this discussion. But, they are now starting to face the reality on the battlefield, and not the “reality” of Western media. Ukraine is cooked. Ukraine will cease to exist as it was prior to 2022.

    “None of the local Churches will accept this.”

    All the heads of the local Churches (minus Greece, Alexandria, Cyprus) have come out in full force in support of Met. Onuphry and the OCU. My question is, if this is the case **why** have they not called a council to fix the situation?

    The reality is, even when Russia wins the war they will probably be looking for a pan-Orthodox situation in Ukraine. If Bartholomew is to be deposed/sanctioned/anathematized, etc., for his actions in Ukraine it will have to come on a pan-Orthodox level and not on a Russia-only basis for it to have to actually be viewed as legitimate.

    This happening will also be the official signature on the death certificate of the EP and it’s primacy in Orthodoxy. Does that mean they EP will physically cease to exits? Not necessarily. But, it will just be a confirmation of what the majority of the Orthodox world already believes: The EP is not necessary for Orthodoxy.

    Russia could also just be waiting for Pascha 2025 and when the EP chooses to “celebrate” with Rome then Russia would set up an Exarchate in Turkey and supplant the EP.

    This will also be a major line in the sand for the Ephraim monasteries in the U.S as they have stated that union with Rome is their red line.

    Will they *actually* follow through with that will remain to be seen as they have been almost completely silent on every EP/GOARCH scandal. As much as I respect and love the monasteries I know quite a few people, myself included, who are involved at the monasteries who are baffled/scandalized by the silence.

    • I think they didn’t have a chance because of the war. They had one scheduled in Russia, as I recall, but that was during a time when Russia was receiving drone attacks.

      If there really is such a thing as a “white hat,” they will get Bartholomew for war crimes. He sparked that war. He gave the Nazi’s a platform. They were looking for “legitimacy” and he delivered purportedly for money. He undermined Russia and the Church with his constant barrage of hate rhetoric. The purpose of his persecution of Onufry was designed to get Onufry killed along with the rest of the UOC. They had to go to extraordinary measures to stay alive. They were then thrown in jail. Their apartments, offices, homes were searched and ransacked. Their parishes and monasteries were confiscated. – But the kicker is this: Bartholomew was just fine with all this and said so. The UOC is under the Russian Orthodox Church and Bartholomew wanted to take full reign.

      But Bartholomew can’t see his own hype. His little archons pump him up but the world has come to hate him. He’s not on the world stage any longer.

      Epiphany never wanted Bartholomew. He want the legitimacy he thought Bartholomew could bring him and he knew Bartholomew could be bought. Bartholomew is over. Epiphany was played. And because some stubborn Greeks won’t throw out the chaff, Bartholomew is going to bring down their whole jurisdiction.

      I don’t know Russia well, but I do know this: Payback is going to be a bitch. Russia doesn’t recognize the OCU so they could ban it altogether.

      I believe Russia will focus her efforts on building up the Church first and use it as a vehicle to help the people. Remember who won this war: Ukraine answers to Russia now. They may allow them to bring in a few pan-Orthodox groups, but Ukraine will go back to being an adjunct to Russia.

      Russia isn’t going to give Ukraine the freedom she may have once had because the whole thing could happen all over again.

      • “I think they didn’t have a chance because of the war. They had one scheduled in Russia, as I recall, but that was during a time when Russia was receiving drone attacks.”

        I’m assuming this will pick back up after the war is officially over. But, I think it’s going to depend on what Russia decides to do with Ukraine. Will it take the whole country? Will it only take “Novorossiya”? In the territories that Russia takes, I believe the UOC will be free and the OCU will be banished. If Russia decides to leave a rump Ukraine then I fully expect the OCU to be left in that area. But, i could be wrong due to Russia’s plan of de-Nazification.

        “If there really is such a thing as a “white hat,” they will get Bartholomew for war crimes.”

        IMHO I doubt this happens. Russia might put sanctions on him, but, my hunch is they will leave it up to a Synod to decide Bartholomew’s fate. There is also the very real possibility that he gets away with it and is posthumously condemned. I tend to doubt the latter because of what the other patriarchs have said, but, again, they haven’t done much but vocally support Met. Onuphry (which don’t get me wrong, is very good).

        “But Bartholomew can’t see his own hype.”

        Herein lies the problem. THEY believe their hype hook, line and sinker. This was incredibly evident at the EP Synodal meeting last week. The main problem with this is that no one else believes the hype. Maybe some within the Churches of Greece, Cyprus & Alexandria, but that’s it.

        The Church NEEDS to come together and fix it before things get worse. Case in point, the Church of Greece has decided to have theological cooperation with the “Kyiv Theological Academy” under the OCU. This is obviously problematic.

        Not to speak ill of our bishops & Patriarchs (please don’t take it that way), but, for the love of God it is not the 5th century, we have free and open communication and travel. This Church situation could be resolved relatively quickly.

        • “THEY believe their hype hook, line and sinker.”

          Yes, but what exactly does this mean?
          One of the things I (and others) noticed about Tony Blair
          was that he believed every lie he uttered
          WHEN HE WAS SAYING IT.
          But if a previous lie contradicted the current one,
          the previous one was what he “believed at the time”.
          Or so he would say. Saddam’s ‘yellowcake uranium’,
          allegedly sourced in Niger, being a case in point.

  8. As I wrote earlier, I don’t see the point. The West seems to be playing make believe that the Russians are not going to conquer all of the Ukraine. If that may have been the case due to lack of intent before the Kursk incursion, I don’t believe that is the case now. I doubt that a square inch of Ukrainian soil will not be under Russian control when the smoke clears. The Russians simply do not trust the West not to make a NATO rump state out of any remainder left uncontrolled by Moscow. And that will spell the end of the OCU, except abroad. Historically, the Russians have had no qualms about dispossessing non-Orthodox from the churches they have seized in moments of state weakness. Putin may be the odd man out, but that is very doubtful since he may not be calling the shots on the ground and his underlings will likely be far more zealous in restoring the UOC than even he would.

    Bartholomew, Epiphony and even Onufry can play all the games they want for the time being. But the bell shall toll for them soon. I expect Onufry will be spared but look for the others to be driven out and all the OCU churches seized over time.

    • A minor quibble, Misha: the Romanian Orthodox Church is making significant noises about joining all of the Romanian-language parishes in Western Ukraine into a Romanian exarchate. These parishes are part of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church headed by Metropolitan Onuphriy.

      Thanks to the centripetal (read: schismatic) forces that were unwittingly(?) unleashed by Bartholomew in the Ukraine, I can see these being gobbled the canonical Romanian Orthodox Church under Patriarch Daniel of Bucharest.

      Romania, like Hungary and Poland, can play the irredentist game and lay claim to parts of the Ukraine which are contiguous to it.

      What an irony! Bartholomew intended to rectify the schismatic situation in the Ukraine but instead, he has accelerated it.

      • For:
        “Bartholomew intended to rectify…”

        I read:
        “Bartholomew intended to take advantage of …”

      • That is an interesting angle, George. Putin, in past remarks, has been open to the possibility of Poland, Hungary and Romania taking pieces of Western Ukraine where they have large numbers of their language speakers. If that becomes the case, then I don’t see a conflict between Romania and Russia.

        However, I do not believe that Russia would allow Romania to exert jurisdiction over parishes on the “territory of Rus'”, which is under the jurisdiction of the MP. Of course, they may make some provision for a Romanian diocese or perhaps even “patriarchal parishes” assuming the UOC agrees to it.

        My guess is so long as Foggy Bottom and Langley are not involved, they will come to some type of concord when the time is right.

      • It will be very interesting to see what the Romanian Church does now that it’s own ethnic parishes are being attacked. Patriarch Daniel has remained relatively silent on Ukraine and the UOC, but, now that “their” parishes are being raided and stolen we will see if Patriarch Daniel/Romanian Church will call out Bartholomew/OCU. I rather doubt they will directly but we’ll see.