Running on Empty

It must have been disappointing.  Although awarded the coveted prize for “protecting religious rights” in America,  “Archbishop” Epiphaniy Dumenko couldn’t fill the room . . . not even by half.

(Thanks to our friends at OxiDay.)

ATHENS, Oct 24 – RIA News. The head of the “new church” of Ukraine Epiphanius was awarded the Patriarch Athenagoras Prize “for the protection of religious rights” of the Patriarch of Bartholomew of Constantinople, the ceremony took place on Saturday evening at the Hilton Hotel in New York, one of the participants told RIA Novosti.

The prize is presented by the National Council of the Order of the Holy Apostle – Archons of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in America. Archon – an honorary title given by the patriarch for various services to the church. The Order of the Archons belongs to the Ecumenical Patriarch.

The Patriarch Athenagoras Prize for the Protection of Human Rights was established in 1986. The award is given at an annual banquet of the order to a person or organization that serves as an example of concern for the fundamental rights and religious freedoms of all people. She was awarded, in particular, former US Presidents Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush, Archbishop of Albania Anastasios, mother Teresa. In 2005, the ex-president of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Athenagoras Prize.

“The Archbishop of America, Elpidophore and Epiphanius, spoke very carefully. Elpidophore said that Epiphanius was rewarded for being a loyal defender of the religious freedom of the Ecumenical Patriarch while some dispute or even reject his privileges or are under enormous pressure from others. Epiphanius thanked” the mother church, “spoke of a” historical decision “to give autocephaly. In general, propaganda,” the source said.

“Epiphanius was careful. He did not say that the Greek Church recognized him. He said that” we hope that the Greek church will complete its decision. “Elpidophor said the same thing,” he said. The current reception was attended by former Archbishop Demetrius, bishops, politicians, and businessmen.

“There were much fewer people than expected. The last row of tables was empty, there were few people at many tables. The reception was half the number of people who were invited. The organizers invited 1,500 people, about 680 people came. There were the Consul General of Ukraine in New York, the ambassador of Ukraine arrived, there were several Ukrainian businessmen, “the source said.“But there weren’t many officials, rich people.

On October 12, 2019, the Greek Orthodox Church (EOC) recognized the right of the Patriarch of Constantinople to grant autocephaly in the Orthodox world at its discretion. The report of the head of the EOC, Archbishop Jerome, contains a recommendation to recognize the “new church” of Ukraine. In particular, it notes that “the Church of Ukraine has always remained in the canonical church jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate”, despite 300 years of its official recognition by all as members of the Russian Orthodox Church, and that recognition of the church from schismatics is a circumstance “especially useful for the Orthodox Church and valuable to strengthen relations between the churches of Great Russia and Ukraine. “

The results of the cathedral of the Hellas church caused a mixed reaction in the EOC itself. Thus, two Greek metropolitans – Seraphim of Kifirsky and Seraphim of Piraeus – stated that the Council of Bishops did not decide to recognize autocephaly of the “new church” of Ukraine due to the lack of voting on this issue, despite an official statement on its results, and called the decisions of the council invalid . Seraphim of Piraeus also declared the impossibility of providing “autocephaly” to the schismatics. There are 81 metropolitans in the Greek church, of whom 69 were present at the council, and only 33 participated in the discussion.

The Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church authorized Patriarch Kirill not to remember the head of the EOC, Archbishop Jerome, at divine services, if he recognizes the so-called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (PCU) and its head Epiphanius Dumenko and begins to pray for him at services. According to the Synod’s statement, the Russian Orthodox Church will maintain a prayer, canonical and Eucharistic connection with the Greek Orthodox Church “through all archpastors and pastors who have already opposed or will continue to oppose the recognition of the Ukrainian schism, who will not stain themselves by serving with schismatic false hierarchs.”

At the end of 2018, on the initiative of the Ukrainian authorities and the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the so-called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (PCU) was created – a schismatic structure formed by the merger of two other schismatic churches. Having received from the Patriarch Bartholomew a Tomos about “autocephaly”, in reality it turned out to be almost completely dependent on Constantinople. On October 15, 2018, the Russian Orthodox Church terminated Eucharistic communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

http://www.oxiday.com/post/archon-epic-fail-protecting-religious-rights-could-not-fill-half-the-room