MOUNT ATHOS /Greece/, October 29. /TASS/. The Russian Orthodox Monastery of St. Panteleimon, or Rossikon, on Mount Athos is not planning to close its mission in Moscow, Hierodeacon Filosof, the monastery’s deputy father superior, told TASS on Monday.

When asked to comment on rumors that the St. Panteleimon monastery was about to close its mission, Hierodeacon Filosof said, "I can’t see why the monastery should do that. I’d better not rely on rumors."

When asked whether the Holy Kinot (Mount Athos’ central administrative body comprised of representatives from all of its 20 monasteries) has ultimately decided to sever ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople after the Russian Orthodox Church had said that full communion with Constantinople was no longer possible, Father Filosof answered, "We in the monastery have heard no such statements from the Holy Mount’s Kinot as of yet."

He stressed that praying for the entire world is what matters most for monks. "Politics is none of the monks’ business," he said. "We, the Athos monks, are grieving over what is going on in Ukraine because our brothers are living there. We know many of them as they often visit Athos. We have always had and now have close brotherly ties with the Ukrainian Church, which is headed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy. And we are thoroughly saddened that there is such a split among the Orthodox in Ukraine."

"We pray every day for the reunification, this is our duty," he stressed. "Monkhood is beyond politics. This is what should be born in mind. If monks indulge in political squabbles, who then will be praying for the world! So, let each of us do his job - let the monks pray, and let the politicians govern."

When asked about the reaction of Mount Athos’ monasteries to the Constantinople Patriarchate’s decision to remove the anathema from the leaders of Ukraine’s two non-canonical churches, Filaret of the Kiev Patriarchate and Makariy of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church, Father Filosof noted that Constantinople’s decision "is the purview of the council of the heads of local Orthodox Churches rather than of Athos."

Ukraine’s church crisis

On October 11, the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople decided to proceed with granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church. It revoked the 1686 decision on transferring the Kiev Metropolitanate under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate and reinstated the heads of two non-canonical churches in Ukraine, Filaret of the Kiev Patriarchate and Makariy of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church, to their hierarchical and priestly ranks. In addition, it announced plans to bring back the Kiev Metropolitanate under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

On October 15, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church said in response to that move that full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was no longer possible.