BELGRADE, January 16. / TASS /. Serbian President Aleksander Vucic hopes that Orthodox Christians will be able to overcome attempts to split the Orthodox world. He made this statement in an exclusive interview with TASS First Deputy Director General, Mikhail Gusman, ahead of the Russian leader’s visit to Belgrade on Thursday.

"We are concerned about the latest developments. When I talked to Patriarch Irenaios he told me that he was saddened by everything that was happening lately as is anyone else who lives for the unity of the Orthodox world. I hope that we will be able to overcome this one day," Vucic stressed.

"As for the Serbs and Russians, the Serbian and Russian Orthodox churches are so close that (...) we Serbs see almost no difference. I believe this speaks of trust and congeniality, which no one can undermine even in the most difficult times. This helped nurture the closest and the most cordial relations between Serbia and Russia, and between our people," the Serbian leader noted.

Earlier, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Irenaios, stated that the split of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine was caused by ambitions of the global powers to "get closer to Russia". There are no canonical reasons behind this crisis, it is just politically motivated. The Serbian First Hierarch stressed that it is not hard to comprehend the situation, if one removes politics from the context, the canonical part of the problem is perfectly clear.

Church crisis in Ukraine

The current Ukrainian leadership has been promoting the creation of an Orthodox church, independent of the canonical Moscow Patriarchate, since it had come to power as a result of a coup d’etat in February 2014. Last April, President Pyotr Poroshenko personally asked the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, for autocephaly for the Ukrainian church.

On December 15, representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople held the so-called "unification council" in Kiev with active participation of the Ukrainian authorities. As a result, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) was established.

On January 6, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople presented the head of the new Ukrainian structure with the Tomos of Autocephaly. The Ukrainian translation of the Tomos, which was made public by the Ukrainian ambassador to Turkey, states that "the rights of the Ecumenical Altar to the exarchate in Ukraine and the sacred stauropegic monasteries remain undiminished" and that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine should resolve all significant matters with the help of Constantinople. Moreover, according to the text of the document, the autocephaly of the new church is limited to Ukrainian territory. The church cannot appoint bishops or create its own structures outside Ukraine, in addition it cannot independently produce holy oil needed for religious services unlike the acting canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.