Schism at the Phanar: Why the Ecumenical Patriarchate Has Broken Canonical Communion
By: Bishop Stephen The Orthodox Church does not measure her faith by sentiment, nor by political convenience, nor by the applause of the modern world. She measures it by fidelity: fidelity to the Apostles, to the Fathers, to the Ecumenical Councils, and to the received canonical order. When that order is strained or openly transgressed, the issue is not public relations. It is communion itself. In recent decades, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople has engaged in joint prayer services and public liturgical gestures with the Roman Catholic Church , often represented by the Bishop of Rome . These events are frequently presented as gestures of love, reconciliation, and historical healing. No Orthodox Christian should despise peace. The Lord Himself prayed that His disciples would be one (John 17:21). Yet unity divorced from truth is not unity at all. It is a sentimental mirage. The matter before us is not whether Roman Catholics are sincere. Nor is it whether dialogue ma...