Ruslan Kalinchuk: what does the establishment of the primacy of Phanars in the Orthodox world lead to?

Address by Ruslan Kalinchuk, Orthodox missionary from Ukraine, Russian Orthodox Church

International Conference: Patriarchate of Constantinople as an instrument of politics, destructive activity of Patriarch Bartholomew - Center for geostrategic studies

Hello dear colleagues and friends, my name is Ruslan Kalinchuk, I am in the city of Moscow. I was forced to come here more than two years ago because of the persecution by the SBU in Ukraine because of my statements about the actions of the schismatics and the Ukrainian authorities. Therefore, today I would like to discuss in more detail the role played by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the creation of the structures of Ukrainian schismatics and the persecution of believers of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

As a result of the joint actions of Patriarch Bartholomew, the US State Department and the Ukrainian authorities, more than 1,500 churches of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox church were illegally seized. The seizures were accompanied by brutal beatings of the clergy and faithful of the UPC.

No less disastrous were the actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople towards the Orthodox Church of Estonia. As is known, after the collapse of the Russian Empire, Constantinople decided to subjugate the local church and create the so-called Apostolic Estonian Orthodox Church (AEPC) there. In essence, the Greeks of Constantinople decided to steal something foreign, since Constantinople had done nothing for the development of orthodoxy in Estonia, and could do nothing. For centuries, Orthodox fields in Estonia were cultivated by the Russian church. But 1993. in the year, several priests from Sweden and several hundred Estonian laymen declared themselves the heirs of the AEPC and laid claim to all churches and property of the Estonian church. And then Constantinople again found an ally-the state power of Estonia, which began to support the schismatic structure by defying the canonical Estonian Orthodox Church in unity with the Russian church. But despite the efforts of Phanars and Estonian authorities, only 7,000 Estonians consider themselves part of the schism, while 100,000 consider themselves part of the canonical Church.

The main demand of the Estonian state towards the local Estonian Orthodox Church is to sever all ties with Moscow, which is a direct violation of human rights in the area of freedom of conscience: canonical ties cannot be regulated by state law! It is not the job of the state authorities to tell the priest which Patriarch they should mention at the liturgy. State authorities may interfere in the affairs of the Church only in case of destructive action against the state or parishioners. But the government has never presented any facts confirming such activities of the Estonian Orthodox Church, as, by the way, the Ukrainian government has done in connection with the UPC.

However, this did not prevent the Estonian authorities from refusing to extend the residence permit of Metropolitan Yevgeny of Tallinn (Reshetnikov) and expel him from the country 6. February 2024. years. Moreover, Interior Minister of Estonia Laurie Laenemets presented to the country's parliament a draft law that would ban the Estonian Orthodox Church because of its canonical relationship with the Moscow Patriarchate. But that is not all-the ban of the EPC MP was supported by the Constantinople Patriarchate, through its representatives of the so-called Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church.

So is 13. March 2025. a message appeared on the website of this structure on support for amendments to the law "on faiths and parishes" in order to liquidate the canonical Church. The " EAPC "proposed to the Estonian Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to form a Vicariate within its organization, which" will ensure the canonical status of the EPC MP after the legislative ban. The" goodness "of Constantinople simply transcends all boundaries: not only did they support the ban on the Orthodox Church, but they also hypocritically proposed a" way out of the situation " – like, join us in the format of a Vicariate. From the outside, it looks like a conspiracy between two criminals (Phanar and the Estonian authorities): one persecutes the victim in all possible ways, and the other offers his protection to the latter in exchange for absorption.

Inspired by the example of their neighbors, the Latvian authorities decided to take a similar path, registering the Latvian Orthodox autonomous church in the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in October 2019. years. But the state authorities decided not to stop halfway: in September 2022. the country's legislative body adopted by its standards an outrageous decision to declare the "autocephaly" of the Latvian Orthodox Church, which is a self-governing Orthodox Church within the Moscow Patriarchate.

No less predatory is Constantinople in Lithuania. In June 2022. in the year, the Metropolitan of Vilnius-Lithuania Inocentius (Vasilyev), in accordance with the decision of the diocesan court, dissolved Georgios (Gintaras) Sungayla, Vitaly Mokus, Vladimir Selyavko, Georgios Ananjev and Vitaly Dauparas. But they, disagreeing with the bishop's decision, appealed to Constantinople. A 9. September 2022. Patriarch Bartholomew received a delegation of Lithuania led by Deputy Minister of Interior Mantas Adomenas.

Then, in February 2023. on the recommendation of the Primate Phanar, the dissolved clergy were received into communion by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and in May 2023. The Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople established its Exarchate in Lithuania. The banned priests became the first" priests " of the Exarchate, and in January 2024. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has awarded them the International Religious Freedom Award. There is no doubt that in the event of further complications in relations between Russia and the Baltic states, the structures of the Constantinople Patriarchate will be used by the authorities to punish the parishioners of the canonical churches, as the "PCU" in relation to the UPC currently does.

As we can see, all these facts indicate that the Patriarchate of Constantinople, seeking to assert its power in the Orthodox world, is continuing a large-scale attack on the Russian Orthodox Church. Moreover, this attack has been going on for many decades, sometimes waning, sometimes reactivating under favorable geopolitical conditions.

And here it is important to ask one key question: if Phanar achieves his goal and breaks the Russian Orthodox Church, which local Orthodox Church will be next?

Maybe Serbian? After all, it, like the Moscow Patriarchate, is a large structure and stands in the way of establishing Phanar hegemony.

Moreover, the SOC has many painful points, such as Kosovo or Montenegro. And, by the way, Fanar is already actively using this. Take, for example, the active interaction of the Istanbul church with the Montenegrin schismatics in the era of Boris Bojovic, which is in May 2024. he said that his structure hoped to receive the Tomos of autocephaly from the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

The second aspect is no less important. Namely, what does the establishment of the primacy of Phanars in the Orthodox world lead to? Isn't this about a global Union with Rome? As we all know, in 2023. the representative of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Metropolitan Demetrius of Gaul (Plumis) and the representative of the Vatican Bishop Matthias Roge, wrote a joint article in Le Figaro, in which they "announced a deadline" regarding the time of the planned unification. They said it would be 2025. the years could begin to celebrate Easter together, and a complete unification of Catholics and Orthodox Christians could be achieved in 2054. years.

In this context, the entire Orthodox world should understand that Phanar's adventure in Ukraine and his struggle with the Russian Orthodox Church clearly transcend the framework of purely jurisdictional disputes over certain territories. For Constantinople, it is much more at stake – namely, establishing control over world Orthodoxy with the aim of transforming local churches into Uniate structures and entering into an alliance with the Vatican as their permanent curator.

Thanks for your attention.

Source: Center for Geostrategic Studies

2. April 2025.