Constantinople patriarchate has discredited itself, Pan-Orthodox Council should be conducted by Moscow - expert
MOSCOW. June 13 (Interfax) - Roman Silantyev, a prominent religious scholar and a professor at the Moscow State Linguistic University (MGLU), believes the disruption of the pan-Orthodox Council scheduled to be held on Crete in July was predictable.
"The Council has predictably fallen through, but there is nothing terrible in that. It's even good that the pro-American Constantinople patriarchate has discredited itself so well," Silantyev told a reporter from the portal Interfax-Religion on Monday.
According to earlier reports, five of the 14 local Orthodox churches (Russian, Bulgarian, Georgian, Serbian and Antioch) have refused to hold the Council on Crete at the planned date. The Constantinople patriarchate, which is in charge of coordinating preparations for this event, currently insists that the Council will be held in the second half of July anyway.
The scholar believes that "the next Council should be conducted by Moscow, not Istanbul, and it should take place on normal, non-dictatorial terms."
The scholar said the priority of the Constantinople patriarch was justified at the time when the head of the Orthodox empire sat in Constantinople.
"However, when we see ISIL (banned in Russia)- sympathizer Erdogan instead of the emperor, the question immediately arises: who the Constantinople patriarchate be trusted with a delicate job such as the consolidation of Orthodox Christians? I personally would be wary of it," Silantyev said.
He said that "Constantinople will play the card of Ukraine, whose authorities have seen seeking the separation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the Moscow patriarchate and the creation of a local church, including with help from the Constantinople patriarchate, for many years" after Russia's refusal to participate in the Crete Council and its call for this Council to be rescheduled.