The role of the Belarusian autocephalous orthodox church in the development and organization of the church schism of the Australian archdiocese of the Constantinople patriarchate (1959-1965)

The history of the complicity of the non-canonical Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in the development and structural design of the division of the Australian Archdiocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople has not yet been reflected in Russian historiography. Observed in the middle 1950s the tendency to increase the influence of the diocesan center and the attempts of the archdiocese to deprive the Australian parishes of their traditional autonomy led to the formation of the Federation of the Greek Orthodox Communities in Australia, which united opposition parish communities. The development of the Australian Archdiocese’s internal crisis resulted in the joining of a number of Greek parishes to the BAOC, after which they formed the uncanonical Holy Greek Orthodox Church in America and Australia. The support of church schism by the First Hierarch of BAOC, Archbishop Sergius (Okhotenko), led to a sharp condemnation of his actions by the Synod of the Constantinople Patriarchate, which in 1962 declared that all the sacraments performed in the Belarusian church jurisdiction called graceless. This decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate acquires special relevance at the present time, when Fanar’s attempts to support and recognize the canonical legitimacy of non-canonical church communities that have arisen as a result of the self-proclamation of their own autocephaly are activated.