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Bishop from Ecuador Withdraws from Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church-Canonical

22.08.2005, [21:46] // Orthodox //

According to the Centre for Orthodox Unity, on 15 August 2005, Bishop Chrysostomos Celi, Ph.D of Ecuador submitted his formal withdrawal from the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church-Canonical (UAOC-C) to the church’s head, Patriarch Moisei (Kulyk) and asked for incardination into the Autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America. Bishop Chrysostomos joins an archbishop from Ukraine, one bishop from Ukraine and one from the U.S. in leaving the UAOC-C.

Among the reasons which Bishop Chrysostomos cites in his letter to Patriarch Moisei are placing the Eucharist, not the relics of martyrs, in the antimensia which the patriarch distributed to his bishops and the patriarch’s not disclosing the fact that he (Moisei Kulyk) had been married and has children living in the United States. Bishop Chrysostomos states, in his letter:

“1. Inside the ‘antimensia’ which you personally gave to each bishop present at the June sobor [Assembly] in Kyiv, there are no relics of martyrs, but possible holy gifts. You personally attested, to me, that the antimensia contained real relics from Jerusalem and on my own, as a bishop, I decided to open your ‘antimensia’ and test directly what I found to be ‘portions’ of bread, and I tasted and confirmed that these are bread and not bones. To reaffirm this fact, I asked a laboratory of an Orthodox investigator, and he confirmed that fact scientifically: the antimensia distributed by you contained bread, not relics of saints. For me and for the holy tradition of the church it is FORBIDDEN to use the holy gifts as ‘relics’ even if we believe in the real presence of our Lord in the consecrated bread, but your use of the Eucharist in antimensia is not sustained or supported in any document of the traditions, or by any synod of our church. It is unacceptable and against our spirit of respect and the true interpretation of the canons to practice this kind of use of the holy gifts. Apart from this troubling fact, I myself feel deceived by you, because you personally told me that the antimensia contained relics from Jerusalem. You lied to me.

“2. My priests and I are shocked to have heard here in Central and South America that you were married with a wife and two children in Michigan. You never revealed this fact to any of your bishops. You personally told me at the Monastery of the Caves that you ‘have no have problem accepting married bishops and that you are thinking about accepting some into our church.’ If you are ‘thinking’ in this way, we want to let you know that we are not in agreement with you, because if at certain times in the Orthodox Church married bishops were accepted, today, this is not the case. One day, you clearly stated to me: ‘Filaret [Patriarch Filaret (Denysenko), head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate] is a married man,’ putting him in a bad way. For me and for all of my clergy, a married bishop is totally unacceptable. If you were married and later took monastic vows, this is possible, but you held your marriage a secret and disclosed it to none of your bishops. For us, this is yet another deception which you practiced. We do not want to remain under a married bishop.

“Because of all the terrible lies, untruths and abuses exposed and discovered about you and your church, and because the biggest scandal for me came as a result of your attitudes, the people and clergy under my mantle decided to petition formally, for the well-being and health of our souls, incardination under Archbishop Ioan of the Autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America with the support of the legal and canonical Tomos of Autonomy given by Metropolitan Thomas (Logue), who himself has broken eucharistic communion with you and your church. I ask you formally to remove my name and image from your web page,” reads the letter of Bishop Chrysostomos.

RISU note:
The antimension (Greek "instead of the table") is one of the furnishings of the altar. It is a rectangular piece of cloth, of linen or silk, with representations of the entombment of Christ, the four evangelists, and scriptural passages related to the Eucharist. It often has a small relic sewn into it.

News source, source of note, and previous related RISU news: Centre for Orthodox Unity

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimension

• http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;6847/

• http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;6807/