The Moscow Patriarchate criticized the management of the Council of European Churches (CEC) and blamed it of pursuing double standards policy.

Last Saturday, the Russian Church declared the suspension of its membership in this organization at the meeting of the CEC Central Committee. The reason of such decision was the unfounded and contradicting the Constitution and the rules of the Conference reluctance to address the membership request of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

"During the last meeting of the CEC Central Committee conducted last year in November in Vienna, we received firm and clear promises that the request of the Estonian Orthodox Church would be addressed on the same basis as the request of the Estonian Apostle Orthodox Church (belonging to the Constantinople Patriarchate, but not recognized by other Orthodox Churches, IF), Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, deputy Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, said to Interfax-Religion.

Besides, according to him, CEC President Pastor Jean-Arnold de Clermont, when visiting Patriarch Alexy II together with the Conference General Secretary, has promised without qualification that the Estonian Orthodox Church will become a CEC member.

However, Father Vsevolod noted that these days in Cyprus where the CEC meeting was held, Jean-Arnold de Clermont "behaved in a different way: he said that he could not approve any decision which was not supported by Constantinople, and proposed to postpone this matter for an indefinite period, as the representatives of Constantinople did."

"There was plenty of time to make a decision, The President who conducted the meeting of the Central Committee, however, was postponing this issue as long as it was possible. We discussed the matter twice for more than an hour (last time it happened on Friday), and I proposed to vote for accepting the Estonian Church in CEC for three times, but the matter was put off until Saturday morning, when most of the participants had to leave," the Archpriest said.

On Saturday, when it came to voting, the representatives of Constantinople and other Greek Churches "defiantly in tandem left the room for the lobby where they had a coffee," Father Vsevolod said.

"I respect the right of people to quench their thirst, but it was evident to me and other members of the Central Committee that this demarche was aimed at killing the quorum and thus disrupt the voting," Father Vsevolod believes.

Father Vsevolod thinks that the majority of CEC members would support the CEC membership of the Estonian Orthodox Church, "but masterfully delayed issue has, unfortunately, done its part."

"The delay was explained by the fact that they allegedly need to reach a consensus between Constantinople and Moscow on the matter of the status of Orthodox Churches in Estonia. We were surprised that when CEC was accepting the Estonian Apostle Orthodox Church, no consensus was even mentioned. Here we have a double standard. It is a political bias and a wish by all means not to allow the decision which would not suit Constantinople," Father Vsevolod said.

He also commented that they had tried about five options of compromise, in particular, the CEC President had offered to suspend the process of admitting the Estonian Apostle Orthodox Church to CEC membership, "but these options hardly tallied with the Constitution and CEC rules, and neither option was intended to admit the Estonian Orthodox Church to CEC membership."

"The CEC General Secretary Colin William's recommendation which supported such admittance was immediately put on the shelf. I have never received any explanation of this," the priest said.

He thinks that "the CEC management and the representatives of the Greek Churches should be ashamed of what had happened." "Many other CEC members told me about that," Father Vsevolod added.

"Our Church will excellently survive without participation in CEC. We will continue our good relations with the most members of this organization. And CEC management has now a good reason to think whether this organization turns into exclusive voice of the West and the structure susceptible to influence and blackmail," Father Vsevolod said.

According to him, the CEC General Secretary Colin Williams told him at parting that "we should continue our dialogue." "We never reject any dialogue, but would not accept the policy of double standards and bias. We will never sacrifice the interests of our Estonian brothers and sisters to satisfy any pressure or tricks," Father Vsevolod added.

Source: Interfax-Religion