Patriarch’s Prayer for Ukraine Church Outrages Serbian Bishop

In a sign of continued deep rifts in the Orthodox Church, a Serbian bishop had condemned the Patriarch of Constantinople, the nominal head of the Church, for mentioning the head of the disputed Orthodox Church in Ukraine in a service.

Bishop Irinej of Novi Sad and Backa said the act by the so-called Ecumenical Patriarch, and by Greek Archbishop Ieronymos, will reate new divisions in the Orthodox religion.

"This act is the final step before the abyss of an even deeper and more dangerous schism in ecclesiastical Orthodoxy," Irinej said on Sunday evening.

His angry reaction came after Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Ieronymos held a joint church service in Thessaloniki, Greece, on Saturday at which they commemorated the name of Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kiev, head of the Ukrainian Church.

Both the Serbian and the Russian Orthodox Churches strongly condemned the Ecumenical Patriarch for recognising the ecclesiastical independence, or autocephaly, of the Ukrainian Church, which formerly came under Russian Church control.

As Greek outlet Ekathimerini reported on October 17, the Moscow Patriarchate has warned that the Russian Church will cut links with any Greek cleric who commemorates the Metropolitan of Kiev in services or prayers.

The Serbian Church said earlier that if new countries and states like Ukraine were all allowed their own autocephalous churches, "this principle could directly jeopardize the unity of the Orthodox Church".

In his press release, Bishop Irinej said that if Greek Archbishop Ieronymos didn't wake up at the last moment, he will "share responsibility before God, the Church, and history with Patriarch Bartholomew" for "a greater and more difficult schism in the Orthodox Church".

"The stance of...