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Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) recommended its clergy to abandon joint services with representatives of “new church” in Ukraine, RIA Novosti reports. The SOC also issued an official statement saying that it would not recognize either the “new church” itself or its clergy. The council, which was called "unifying" in Kiev, in Serbia is considered a "false preacher", which further deepened and widened the split in the society of the "unfortunate country".
SOC recognized the actions of Patriarch Bartholomew as "non-canonical invasion" of the canonical territory of Russian Orthodox Church. The statement reminds that Kyiv Metropolis cannot be equated to the territory of modern Ukraine. It includes dozens of other church dioceses.
Serbian Church called on Constantinople to reconsider the decisions made in order to restore unity in the Orthodox world.
As Russkiy Mir reported, at the initiative of the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko and the Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, a “unifying council” was held in Kiev on December 15; it was attended mainly by representatives of schismatic church structures, the Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church. Patriarch Bartholomew handed over Tomos of autocephaly to the new structure on January 6.
Russian Orthodox Church, the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and most other Orthodox churches refused to recognize the "new church", considering its creation to be non-canonical.
Russkiy Mir
