mo4ch:>Constantinople was unwise to antagonize Moscow, leading Orthodox theologian says | Mo4ch News

The Patriarch of Constantinople was wrong to declare Ukraine no longer subject to the Russian Orthodox Church as the conflict hurts the entire Orthodoxy, believes Metropolitan Kallistos, a leading figure in Orthodoxy.Kallistos (Timothy Ware) is an Oxford-based bishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and one of the most respected Orthodox theologians today. In a recent interview with Slovo Bozhie (the word of God), a Russian Orthodox news website, he acknowledged that the escalation was initiated by Constantinople.I feel that it was unwise of the Patriarch of Constantinople unilaterally to say the agreement of 1676 is cancelled. After all, as Aristotle says ‘even God cannot change the past’He is referring to the 17th century letter, which acknowledged the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church to appoint the metropolitan of Kiev, the highest bishop in Ukraine. In October, Constantinople announced it was revoking this right as part of its effort to create an independen…