Lithuanian deacon leaves Moscow Patriarchate to join new Orthodox community

VILNIUS - Three new priests have joined the ranks of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, including Viktoras Miniotas, a former deacon of the Orthodox Archdiocese of Vilnius and Lithuania, which is subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate.

Meanwhile, Orthodox Christians subordinate to Moscow say Metropolitan Innokentiy has banned the deacon from his duties in response to his departure.

"Three clergymen have submitted their requests to join the the structure of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Patriarch Bartholomew I then accepted them into the Patriarchate of Constantinople according to all the rules," Gintaras Sungaila, a priest of the new Orthodox community, told BNS on Tuesday.

Besides the Lithuanian deacon, priests Heorhi Roy and Alexander Kukhta, who escaped crackdown in Belarus, have also joined the ranks of the Orthodox Church in Constantinople.

The Archdiocese of Vilnius and Lithuania states it waited for some time for the deacon to repent, but when he chose another congregation, it finally decided to ban him from his duties.

It says Miniotas was been banned for life "for breaking his oath as a deacon and for committing other ecclesiastical canonical offenses".

Sungaila calls this decision unjustified.

"Miniotas has been part of the Patriarchate of Constantinople for some time. This suspension is null and void, it is a manipulation because Metropolitan Innokentiy has no right to suspend a deacon of the Patriarchate of Constantinople," the cleric said.

Officially, Lithuania now has one Orthodox Christian community – the Archdiocese of Vilnius and Lithuania, which is subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate. However, the structure of the Patriarchate of Constantinople is also being created on the basis of five former priests of the Moscow Patriarchate, who were defrocked last year by Metropolitan Innokentiy and subsequently reinstated by Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople in February.

The Moscow Patriarchate had accused the priests of canonical offenses, but Constantinople ruled that they were defrocked not for having broken the Church rules, but for their position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Orthodox Christians in Lithuania are considered one of nine traditional religious communities.