The Russian Orthodox Church’s decision to cut ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople is unprecedented and will be extremely hard to overcome, experts have told TASS.

On October 15, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church said it refused to recognize the decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to "proceed to the granting of Autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine," and announced it would sever Eucharistic ties with it. The Russian Orthodox Church insists that Ukraine is a canonical territory of the Moscow Patriarchate and rejects the attempt to create a new Church in the country as a rude incursion into its domain.

Unprecedented and tough move

A New-York based scholar of religion and international relations, Irina du Quenoy (Papkova) told TASS that "the situation is unprecedented and it is unclear how to find a way out of it."

"No split of this kind ever occurred within the Orthodox church," she said.

She mentioned a dispute between the Russian Orthodox Church and Constantinople over several parishes in Estonia, which also sought independence from Moscow Patriarchate 22 years ago.

‘But that conflict did not escalate, the relations were restored fairly quickly," Irina du Quenoy said. "Now the split is way more serious, [it has taken place] at a totally different level, absolutely all ties were severed. It is unprecedented that believers are prohibited from receiving communion in churches of Constantinople. This never happened before and is a very tough move."

"It will be extremely hard to settle this situation, because [the sides] have resorted to their heaviest weaponry," she went on. "Right now, heads of various local churches - Serbian, Bulgarian and others - have taken Moscow’s side, because their relations with Constantinople are also complicated. But the Orthodox Church has no centralized body that may gather all parties to the conflict together in a bid to settle the situation."

"No one has the authority to tell Constantinople what should be done," the expert said, adding that national churches can only express their opinion.

She suggested convening Synaxis, an assembly of heads of national churches, as a possible way out of the crisis.

"Right now, the only way to settle the situation is to refer the dispute to other Orthodox churches," Irina du Quenoy said. "If Moscow gives its consent, and if Constantinople also agrees, then, possibly, this might be a solution."

"Theoretically, they [local churches] can serve as mediators, but at the same time in practice this means that the sides should be ready to negotiate. Right now, no one is. Neither Moscow, nor Constantinople have so far been able to soften their stance, both sides have backed themselves into a corner, and there is no way out for them so far," the expert added. "The only chance is that they would agree to the variant suggested by leaders of other churches, but this sems unrealistic at the moment."

Church diplomacy

Another expert, Board Chairman of the Valdai international discussion club Andrei Bystritsky, suggested "church diplomacy" as a possible solution. He added that if the Orthodox community manages to overcome the split, it would solidify its positions worldwide.

The expert described the current state of affairs as "a difficult and complicated situation," but said that the chance to overcome this crisis was still not lost.

"Just like any other type of diplomacy, the church diplomacy probably has its own secrets. Some agreements may be reached, but they will not be revealed to the public before the due time, because this issue is very sensitive," Bystritsky said.

"I hope that finding a solution to this conflict will be very fruitful and useful from the point of view of further development of the Orthodoxy. Development is possible only through conflict, through struggle. I think that this applies to Orthodoxy as well, because it should seriously think about its role worldwide," he added.

Any scenario possible

Meanwhile, Research director of the Valdai Discussion Club and Editor-in-Chief of the Russia in Global Affairs journal Fyodor Lukyanov said "any scenario" was possible, "from full-fledged intra-church clashes to a relatively peaceful separation."

"Of course, it is in the political interests of the Ukrainian leadership and its foreign sponsors to intensify the process of pushing Russia further away, including in the religious sector," the expert said, describing the process as "very dangerous and long-term."

He said Constantinople’s decision to support Ukraine’s bid for autocephaly was due to the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s decision to build up its clout worldwide.

"Of course, the situation has political connotations, first and foremost," Lukyanov went on. "All religious reasoning here serves the purpose of validating certain political trends… The Constantinople patriarchate’s decision is aimed at using the political tendencies in Ukraine to build up its own clout. This is important for Constantinople, because, to a certain extent, it has no territory of its own and has to rely mostly on diasporas, first of all, in the United States."

Speaking about the situation in Ukraine, the expert attributed the autocephaly bid to Ukrainian political leadership’s desire "to confirm its political sovereignty through religious independence."

Autocephaly debate

The Ukrainian authorities have tried to create a Local Orthodox Church independent from the Moscow Patriarchate on numerous occasions since 1991, but after the February 2014 coup in Ukraine the campaign gained steam.

Currently, Ukraine has one canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is a self-governing church constituent of the Moscow Patriarchate. There are also two religious organizations not recognized by the Orthodox Christian world - the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, which backed the appeal by Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko to the Constantinople Patriarchate to grant autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

Ukraine is home to more than 12,000 churches and 200 monasteries of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.