September 14, 2018, at the Patriarchal and Synodal residence in the Danilov monastery in Moscow under the chairmanship of his Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill held an extraordinary session of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, reports patriarhiei.
The meeting discussed the issue of retaliation in connection with nsnativecomponentloader the Patriarchate’s “exarchs” in Kyiv within the framework adopted by the Synod of this Church, “the decision on granting of the Autocephalous status of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine” (No. 69).
Earlier, in a statement on 8 September 2018, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church has expressed strong protest in connection with anticanonically the appointment of the Pamphylian Archbishop Daniel and Bishop Ilarion of Edmonton “Exarch” of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Kiev and stated the retaliation that will follow in the near future.
Ukrainian Orthodox Church also condemned the appointment of “exarchs” Konstantinopolsky of the Church, calling it “a flagrant violation of the canonical territory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church” (statement of the Department for external Church relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of September 7, 2018).
The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church at the meeting on 14 September, examining the situation, decided to suspend:
- prayerful remembrance of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople during the service;
- the concelebration with the hierarchs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople;
- the participation of the Russian Orthodox Church of all the Episcopal meetings, theological dialogue, multilateral commissions and other bodies which preside over or co-chair representatives of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
In connection with non-canonical actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Ukraine by the Holy Synod adopted a statement.