News of the Moscow Synod: Metropolitan of Vilnius is not dismissed, Ukrainian dioceses continue to be annexed

Wikimedia photo. Associative image.

October 13 A meeting of the Synod took place in Moscow, which discussed dozens of different issues. Among the most significant for Lithuania is the discussion on the dismissal of the local Metropolitan of the Moscow Patriarchate and the decision on the direct subordination of the Diocese of Rovenki in Ukraine to Moscow.

October 9 metropolitan Innocent reached the canonical age of 75 years. In the Moscow Patriarchate, a bishop who has reached this age must submit a request of dismissal to the Moscow Patriarch, and the request is granted if the Synod so decides. In this case, the Synod allowed the metropolitan to continue in office.

In relation to Ukraine, the Moscow Synod has actually recognized Russia's annexation of different areas of Ukraine and is reorganizing its administrative structure according to the new political reality. The text of the synod already talks about refugees from "Donbad, Kherson, Zaporozhye regions and Ukraine", as if Donbas, Kherson and Zaporozhye were not Ukraine, and also the Synod separated another diocese from the Ukrainian Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

From now on, the bishop of the Diocese of Rovenka, located in the Luhansk region, will not be accountable to the Metropolitan of the Moscow Patriarchate in Kyiv, but he will directly subordinated to Moscow. A little earlier, in June, the Synod transferred the dioceses of Crimea to direct subordination to Moscow.

It should be remembered that in the past the Moscow Patriarchate has consistently asserted that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which belongs to the Moscow Patriarchate, is independent from Moscow. All the games with "independence" and "autonomy" of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church suddenly became unnecessary when Russian troops entered the respective dioceses. The abolition of the mediator in Kiev takes place by the decision of the Moscow Synod, because, of course, even formally, according to the statute, the Moscow Synod remains the highest authority for each part of the Moscow Patriarchate, no matter how "independent" or "autonomous" that part is declared.