The Russian Orthodox Church condemned the Latvian Seimas’ decision to approve changes to the Latvian Orthodox Church (LPC) law and grant autocephaly status. This has been reported TASS.
September 8 Seimas urgently approved Changes that ensure the full independence of the Latvian Orthodox Church, with all its dioceses, parishes and institutions, from the authority of any church outside Latvia (an autocephalous church), including the Moscow Patriarchate.
in ROC insistHe said that the autocephaly of the Latvian Orthodox Church can only be given by its mother church, the Russian Orthodox Church, and that the adoption of such a decision by any state authority would amount to unconstitutional interference in the internal affairs of the church. A source from the Moscow Patriarchate Department of External Church Relations (DECR) stressed that in terms of canon law norms, the canonical status of the Orthodox Church in a given country is determined by the church’s decision, and not secular authorities. According to him, LPC became self-directed in the 1990s.