The Council of bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church criticized the actions of Constantinople, which rehabilitated the leaders of the schismatics in Ukraine.
“The Cathedral in the first place with regret that the Patriarchate of Constantinople accepted the canonically unfounded the decision to rehabilitate and to recognize the bishops of the two leaders of the schismatic groups in Ukraine – Filaret Denisenko and Macarius of Maletich, together with their bishops and clergy,” reads a special statement of the Cathedral, published Monday on the website of the Serbian Church.
The bishops remind us that at the time, Filaret was defrocked and subjected to anathema at all, and Macarius deprived of Apostolic succession as “a spiritual offspring of the sect of the so-called self-consecrated ones”. In this regard, the Serbian Church considers this decision of the Patriarchate of Constantinople for themselves invalid.
“The Cathedral does not recognize for these people and their followers of the Orthodox bishops and clergy and, accordingly, does not accept the liturgical and canonical communion with them and their supporters”, – the document says.
The proposed Cathedral of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and all the other local Autocephalous Orthodox Churches as soon as possible to consider the question of autocephaly and the Orthodox of the Diaspora on pan-Orthodox Council is to enhance collegiality and the Unity of the Orthodox Church and to avoid future temptations as those which now were Holy Orthodoxy.