Godišnjak (Nov 2024)
Питање православне дијаспоре
Abstract
The issue of the Orthodox diaspora is more current than before. The Patriarchate of Constantinople wants to subjugate the entire diaspora. Imposing the teaching that the church mission belongs only to the Church of Constantinople is not justified, because the mission is the right of every local Church. The existence of jurisdictions in the diaspora related to their home churches is a reality, although the answers offered are not final. It would be desirable for local autocephalous churches with a single jurisdiction to be created in the diaspora in the future, based on the territorial principle of organization. Also, the claims of the Patriarchate of Constantinople that it has the right to establish an exarchate or a Stauropegion on other people's canonical territories are not acceptable. Attempts to transform the Patriarch of Constantinople from "primus inter pares" to "primus sine paribus" are evident. The current theology of the Church of Constantinople is an attempt to impose new interpretations of church canons on Orthodoxy, for church law to be based on authority, and not on the primacy of the honor of the Constantinople Cathedral, even though the Patriarch of Constantinople has no jurisdiction in other independent local Orthodox churches nor does he have the right to subjugate the Orthodox diaspora or to receive appeals from other local churches, because in the Orthodox Church there is no service of a "universal" bishop, as a "vicar" of Christ. Of course, it is not appropriate to deny the primacy of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the fact that the mentioned Church belongs to the first place in the diptych of Orthodox churches, but neither is a maximalist interpretation of the role and honor of Constantinople in the Orthodox world. Imposing the teaching that the mission belongs only to the Constantinople Cathedral is not justified, because the mission is the right of every local church, and the Russian Church has had the most success in missionary work in recent centuries. For the Orthodox diaspora, it is still the best way to stay connected to their mother Church and country.
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