In his interview with “Mezhdunarodnaya Zhizn” (International Affairs) magazine, His Holiness Patriarch Porphyry of Serbia spoke about possible ways to overcome the crisis caused by the decisions of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

Referring to the church situation in Ukraine, His Holiness emphasized: “Our position remains unchanged. We have rendered and will continue to render the broadest support to Metropolitan Onufry and his Church.”

In the upheavals of the late 20th century, which led to the collapse of states, “enemies of Orthodoxy – and I would say: enemies of Christianity – saw an opportunity to split the autocephalous or autonomous Churches,” the Primate of the Serbian Orthodox Church observed.

“Therefore, we have a fairly good understanding of what is happening in Ukraine,” the Serbian Patriarch said. “This is why we highly appreciate how Patriarch Alexy of blessed memory steered the ship of the Russian Church in those turbulent and difficult times, and also how Patriarch Kirill steers her triumphantly in the third millennium. The broadest freedom, complete autonomy in administration, which the Russian Orthodox Church granted to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, is an example of the manifestation of the highest economy and church consciousness.”

“Despite the astonishing ease with which the Patriarchate of Constantinople disregarded the Holy Church canons, ecclesiology, the ages-old established order of the Orthodox Church, and its Holy Tradition, we — as well as our sister Russian Orthodox Church — do not renounce our love for the Mother Church. We pray that the day will come, and as soon as possible, when non-Orthodox anti-church influence, which, as I can see, has brought nothing good to anyone in Ukraine, shall be cast away. Then we all, in the spirit of the Church, shall return to brotherly love and a pan-Orthodox solution of all problems,” Patriarch Porphyry of Serbia concluded.