Cardinal Kurt Koch
The Vatican has not commented on the rupture of relations between the Moscow and Constantinople Patriarchates, but regrets because of what happened.
On this Austrian Catholic Agency “Kathpress” said the President of the Pontifical Council for promoting Christian unity cardinal Kurt Koch, reports “Interfax”.
“The Vatican evaluates the gap between the Orthodox Patriarchates of Moscow and Constantinople as a “serious conflict,” the cardinal said. – This step also has a direct impact on the Ecumenical dialogue with the Catholic Church.”
According to him, “we can assume that the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate will no longer participate in a joint conversation while the dispute remains unresolved”.
A Vatican spokesman stressed that it was “vnutripolostny dispute”, for this reason the Catholic Church it and not commented. On the other hand, “when one member of the body of Christ suffers, other members suffer also.”
Recall the Synod of the Church of Constantinople on 11 October decided to canonically recover Filaret Denisenko and Macarius of Miletich “to their hierarchical or priestly rank” and took a decision on the restoration of stavropigio in Kiev and declared the desire to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church.
15 October 2018 Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church recognized it impossible to stay in communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Also in the ROC said that the attempt of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to decide the fate of the UOC without her consent is anticanonically assault.
As reported by the SPM, the Patriarch of Antioch and all the East John X and Patriarch Irinej of Serbia in their joint statement urged the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew to restore “fraternal dialogue” with the Russian Orthodox Church to resolve the conflict caused by the Ukrainian ecclesiastical question, the continuation of which threatens the long-term split between all the members of the Orthodox Church.