Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral stated that the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is not the infallible Roman Pope and that he has no right to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church.
Amfilohije stated this during a lecture at the Cultural Center of Serbia in Paris, held on the occasion of eight centuries of autocephaly of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC).
Amfilohije assessed that the temptation of primacy exists in every human community where there are people, including in the Church, and that for this reason "it is very important that the Church preserves its original organization".
He said that all this can be seen especially from the current church situation in Orthodox Ukraine.
"Our respected Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew believes that he has the right to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church and to cancel the decision of three hundred years ago, so that he could implement what he envisioned. We all respect the Patriarch of Constantinople, the First See of the Constantinople Orthodox Church. However, that to him does not give him the right to behave the way he did with Ukraine," Amfilohije stressed," writes the official website of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral.
He explained that throughout history the patriarch of Constantinople granted autocephaly only in those places that belonged to him.
"Slavic peoples and churches were in the orbit of Constantinople, as states, as imperial authorities. Those decisions survived, they were recognized from the council until our times. And not only that, fourteen autocephalous churches were also recognized at the council in Crete. therefore, they are no longer under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople, because the council is the one that finally confirmed it," said the metropolitan.
The Metropolitan also said that he respects Patriarch Bartholomew, who is his friend from his student days.
"But that does not mean that we will support all his decisions. Still, he is not an infallible Pope of Rome. And that is why, for example, our Church did not accept his recognition of autocephaly in Ukraine. If all Orthodox Ukrainians accepted autocephaly, then that would be normal. But, however, the majority of the Orthodox people of Ukraine belong to the canonical Church headed by Metropolitan Onufrije, which is connected to the Moscow Patriarchate. This is not a solution, but only a deeper complication of the issue," said the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral.
He said that for this reason, "our Church is begging the Patriarchate of Constantinople to convene an all-Orthodox council that will resolve the issue and that, in addition to the Russian one, the same is proposed by other local churches."
He said that Constantinople has the right to convene universal councils and that the problem now is who will convene the council, which alone can resolve that issue.
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