This guy Kirill is full of himself, isn’t he?
The Eastern Orthodox Church is a group of churches, each with its own head (autocephalous). But the ecumenical patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Istanbul (Constantinople) is the “first among equals.” Presently that is Bartholomew.
There are Eastern Orthodox Churches all over the place, with Russia and Ukraine just being two of them. So, Kirill is no higher authority than the patriarch of Ukraine, or any other Eastern Orthodox Church.
Even the Russian clerics have an exaggerated opinion of themselves. Is it something in the water in Russia?
Yes. Patriarch Kirill likes his job and intends to keep it.
Bartholomew has Constantine only to thank for the honor of first among equals.
Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine Onuphriy is the true head of the persecuted and banned Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Onuphriy is the real Orthodox primate in Ukraine.
And I mean the real Ukrainian Orthodox Church, not the One formed by Poroshenko, Pompeo, and Bartholomew.
Tikhon, metropolitan of America and Canada, supports Onuphriy.
It did not have to happen, this divison, and I think it symptomatic of the current Western obsession to meddle in affairs that is NONE of its business.
Kirill is right. It’s political, and simply wrong.
Is it something in the water?