The Moscow Patriarchate Accuses the Conference of European Churches of Using a Double Standard

Fr Vsevolod Chaplin (1968- ), Vice Chairman of the MP DECR

The Moscow Patriarchate criticised the leadership of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and accused it of using double standards in its policy. Last Saturday, the Russian Church declared the suspension of its membership in this organisation at the meeting of the CEC Central Committee. The reason of this decision was the groundless reluctance of the CEC to address the membership request of the Estonian Autonomous Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (EAOC (MP)), a move that was contrary to its rules and constitution. “During the last meeting of the CEC Central Committee conducted last year in November in Vienna, we received firm and clear promises that the request of the EAOC (MP) would be addressed on the same basis as the request of the ‘Estonian Apostoloc Orthodox Church’ (under the EP, but, not recognised by any other Local Orthodox Church: Interfax)”, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, Vice Chairman of the MP Department for External Church Relations, said to Interfax-Religion.

Moreover, in his view, CEC President Pastor Jean-Arnold de Clermont, when visiting Patriarch Aleksei II together with the Conference General Secretary, promised without qualification that the EAOC (MP) would become a CEC member. However, Fr Vsevolod noted that during those days in Cyprus where the CEC meeting was held, Rev de Clermont “behaved entirely differently, he said that he could not approve any decision which was not supported by the EP, and proposed to indefinitely postpone this matter, as the representatives of the EP did. There was plenty of time to make a decision, The President who conducted the meeting of the Central Committee, however, was postponing this issue as long as it was possible. We discussed the matter twice for more than an hour (the last time was last Friday), and I proposed to vote for accepting the EAOC (MP) as a CEC member three times, but, the matter was put off until Saturday morning, when most of the participants had to leave”.

On Saturday, when it came to voting, the representatives of the EP and other Greek Churches “in unison and defiantly left the room for the lobby, where they had coffee”, Fr Vsevolod noted. “I respect the right of people to quench their thirst, but, it was evident to me and the other members of the Central Committee that this demarche was aimed at killing the quorum, thusly, disrupting the vote”, he noted. Fr Vsevolod thought that the majority of CEC members would support the membership bid of the EAOC (MP), “but, a masterfully-deployed parliamentary trick has, unfortunately, done its part. The delay was explained by the fact that they allegedly need to reach a consensus between Constantinople and Moscow on the matter of the status of Orthodox Churches in Estonia. We were surprised that when the CEC accepted the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church, no consensus was even mentioned. Here we have a double standard. It is political favouritism and a desire not to allow any decision which would not suit the EP by any means possible”, Fr Vsevolod said.

He noted that they had tried about five ways of coming to a compromise, in particular, the CEC President had offered to suspend the process of admitting the Estonian Apostle Orthodox Church to CEC membership, “but, these options were not in conformance with the Constitution and CEC rules, and none was intended to admit the EAOC (MP) to CEC membership. The recommendation of CEC General Secretary Colin Williams that supported the admittance [of the EAOC (MP)] was immediately put on the shelf. I have never received any explanation of this”, Fr Vsevolod stated. In his view, “The leadership of the CEC and the representatives of the Greek Churches should be ashamed of what they did. Many other CEC members told me about that”, Fr Vsevolod added. “Our Church will survive quite well without participation in the CEC. We will continue our good relations with most members of this organisation. However, the CEC leadership has a good reason to ponder whether this organisation is turning into an exclusive mouthpiece of Western interests and a structure susceptible to influence and blackmail”, Fr Vsevolod said. CEC General Secretary Colin Williams told Fr Vsevolod when they parted, “We should continue our dialogue”. “We never reject any dialogue, but, shall not accept a policy of double standards and bias. We will never sacrifice the interests of our Estonian brothers and sisters to satisfy those who use coercion and tricks”, Fr Vsevolod added.

13 October 2008

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=26888

Editor’s Note:

The EP has been caught with its hand in the cookie jar, and rather flagrantly and impudently, at that. It is time for Istanbul to be taken to the woodshed and taken down a peg or two. One angered EP fanatic wrote me and said that the EP has to bless everything in the Orthodox world. That is papist, it is not Orthodox! Orthodoxy believes in brotherly sobornost, not papal diktats and dictatorship. Of course, we all know that Cardinal Bartholomew was trained in Rome by the Jesuits and that he fawned all over Benedict, the Pope of Rome, when the latter visited Istanbul.

I stand with the Fathers of the Holy Mountain who condemn Cardinal Bartholomew’s kowtowing to the Pope of Rome and I stand with them when they condemn the Phanar’s papal innovations. I stand with the good people of Greece, who are 97 percent in favour of Russia. I stand with the courageous confessors of Romania who condemn the two bishops who dragged the Church through the muck when they concelebrated with Uniates. I stand with good Metropolitan Vladimir who is fighting the EP-Uniate hydra in the Ukraine. I stand with Metropolitan Kornily Yakubs of Tallinn, the head of the canonical Church in Estonia, who was a prisoner of conscience in the Soviet times, and who is now being backstabbed by a schismatic EP bishop who does not even speak the languages used in Estonia. I stand with the suffering people of Serbia, whose sufferings are magnified by the EP’s support of American foreign adventurism. I stand with Bishop Elisei of England, who is repairing the damage caused by the EP pseudo-bishop and renegade, Basil Osborne. I stand with the faithful people of the OLTR in France, who are fighting to preserve their traditional worship from EP modernism.

The EP stands virtually alone, propped up by its supporters in the Vatican (although most good Roman Catholics are unaware of what is going on) and the US State Department.

Whom shall you follow? A vibrant Church nourished by the blood of the New Martyrs, a Church that is growing daily, or, a stagnant shell of a formerly-great Church that is now drowning in irrelevance? The choice is not hard… “All roads lead to Rome… the Third One, that is… Moscow”.

BMD