“Problem of Autocephaly not Topical for Ukrainian Orthodox” Press-Conference of Glavred-Media

The problem of autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is not topical for the Ukrainian orthodox at present. Here of spoke the representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate during the press-conference at Glavred-media.

According to the Chair of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC archimandrite Kirill Hovorun, in nowadays Ukraine there is no basic precondition for establishment of the autocephalous church – consensus among the faithful. The question of independence of the Ukrainian Church is not the question to Moscow. It is not the question to the Russian Orthodox Church. It is not the question to the Moscow Patriarchate. It is the question to the Church itself and to the voice of the people of God, who make up this Church”, he said.

Archimandrite Kirill noted that among the Ukrainian believers there are totally different opinions as for the future of the Ukrainian Church – a part of them votes for autocephaly, another part opposes it. “It is the absence of consensus on this issue makes impossible the solution of the problem of the UOC status”, Fr. Kirill is sure.

At the same time, the UOC representative considers the mechanical reunification of the Orthodox Ukrainians into the one Local Church to be dangerous at the present stage – “it can lead to the further division and partition of the Ukrainian Orthodoxy” the clergyman is sure.
In his turn, chair of the Synodal Department for Education and Information of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, archpriest George Kovalenko added that by the present the dependence of many churches on the Patriarchate of Constantinople is much higher than the dependence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on the Moscow Patriarchate. Besides, in fact we have formed the model which lets us preserve unity of the Russian Church, which may become the basis for restoration of the unity of the Ukrainian Orthodoxy”, Fr. George noted.

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