The Ecumenical Patriarchate has decided that it has every right to provide autocephaly without agreement from other churches.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko wrote this on Twitter, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"The Ecumenical Patriarchate has endorsed a decision about the right of the Ecumenical Patriarch to provide all countries with the right to create local churches without taking into consideration the opinion of Moscow. This concerns Ukraine first of all and its right to create the local composite Ukrainian Orthodox Church," he wrote.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on September 1, 2018, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate denied that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I had informed Patriarch Kirill of Moscow about the decision to provide autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. </s> The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate does not rule out that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine will be granted the tomos on autocephaly in November 2018.

Yevstratii Zorya, the spokesperson of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate, said this in an interview with the Hromadske.ua television channel, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"We will do our utmost to see this happen as soon as possible. The closest possible date - the next meeting of the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which will be in the second half of November," he said.

He says participating in the unification congress of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will be primates who applied to the Ecumenical Patriarch with a request to grant the tomos on autocephaly.

"These will be primates of the Kyiv Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, and some ten, we do not know exactly how many so far, from the Moscow Patriarchate," he said.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Patriarch Filaret, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, says the tomos on autocephaly will be granted after unification of the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate has urged the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to jointly prepare the unification congress for electing the head of the Ukrainian autocephalous church. </s> The granting of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is “a secular event,” Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Antoniy (Pakanych) said.

“I would like to emphasize that the Christian holiday should not be outshined by a certain secular event. There were a lot of such events in our history. So, those events, which were believed to be great some time ago, then became shameful both for the church history and for those people, who signed that sort of documents,” he said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Sunday.

The documents that have been earlier signed caused some problems to the Christians, the metropolitan said.

“Various documents were signed, both unions and tomos, but all of this unfortunately very often caused some difficulties in the life to the Christians, and only those people, who deal with the church history, are aware of them now,” he said.

On October 11, 2018, the Constantinople Patriarchate’s Synod in Istanbul invalidated its decree of 1686 on the transfer of the Kyiv Metropolinate to Moscow, declared the creation of a metochion in Kyiv, and rehabilitated the leaders of the self-proclaimed Orthodox Churches in Ukraine. In response, the Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate declared the full severance of relations with Constantinople.

On January 5, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew signed a tomos granting autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine at the St. George’s Cathedral in Istanbul. </s> The Universal Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, Bartholemew I, has decided to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, according to a Greek church site, giving a major victory to Kyiv and inflicting an even larger geopolitical defeat on the Moscow Patriarchate and the Kremlin.

Archbishop Yevstraty Zorya, the press secretary of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, citing the Greek outlet Orthodoxia.info, says that Bartholemew informed Moscow Patriarch Kirill about his decision during the latter’s recent visit to Constantinople (nv.ua/ukraine/events/varfolomej-proinformiroval-hlavu-rpts-o-svoem-reshenii-otnositelno-avtokefalii-est-osnovanija-dlja-sderzhannoho-optimizma-upk-kp-2491600.html).

Yevstraty added that the headline in the Greek source could be translated as “The Die is Cast! Ukraine is Receiving Autocephaly.” He said that Patriarch Kirill left his meeting with Bartholemew “in not the best spirit.” But Ukrainians are celebrating what will be a major victory for them.

A spokesman for the Universal Patriarch told Orthodoxia.info that “no one wants yet another split,” something Moscow has threatened if Constantinople proceeded. “Everyone wants unity in the Church.” But he added the Universal Patriarchate won’t be guided in its action by “threats from anyone,” a clear rebuff to Moscow.

According to the spokesman, the Universal Patriarch took the decision about offering autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church in April and is now in the process of implementing it. And in the months since, Constantinople has signaled that it intends to meet Ukraine’s request although it has not provided a specific date.

It is important to recognize what the grant of autocephaly in Ukraine will and won’t do. It will elevate the status of the Ukrainian church and underscore its separation from Moscow, but it won’t end the existence of the Moscow Patriarchate’s network of churches in Ukraine, although it will undoubtedly cause many of them to shift their subordination to Kyiv.

Most important, it will undermine the Moscow Patriarchate’s claim to speak for all Orthodox on the former Soviet space and cost the church itself a great deal of its income given that half of its existing congregations are in Ukraine rather than in Moscow. And it will call into question Moscow’s claim to be the largest Orthodox church in the world.

Obviously, Moscow both religious and secular isn’t going to accept this without a fight. But the decision of the Universal Patriarch means that Ukraine has won a major victory, one that it is likely to build on in the future and one that may serve as a model for other post-Soviet states as far as Orthodoxy is concerned. </s> "I congratulate everyone on setting up the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church which has been just created at St. Sophia’s," he said addressing the crowd in Sofiyskaya Square after the end of the ‘unification’ council.

Metropolitan Epiphany of Pereyaslav and Belotserkovsk, who had earlier served as a bishop of the uncanonical Kiev Patriarchate, was elected head of the new church.

Poroshenko recalled the words of Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, saying: "As Taras Shevchenko once said Ukraine would not be drinking Moscow’s poison from the Moscow cup."

‘Unification’ council

On Saturday, the St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Kiev hosted a so-called ‘unification’ council held under the auspices of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and brokered by the Ukrainian authorities.

The council pursued a goal of creating a new local Orthodox Church estranged from the Moscow Patriarchate. The church will be formally granted an autocephalous status, but in fact, it will be under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The council was expected to consider two main issues, namely the new church’s charter and the election of its head.

The organizers planned that representatives of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and two schismatic groups, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church, will attend the council. Nonetheless, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church turned the invitation down lashing out at the council as illegitimate. On December 7, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s Holy Synod said that the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople had no canonical right to convene any church meetings in Ukraine and that "neither the clergy nor the laity have been authorized to represent the Ukrainian Orthodox Church at that meeting."

On Saturday, only two from 90 archbishops of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church attended the assembly. They are Metropolitan Alexander (Drabinko) of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky and Vyshnevsky and Metropolitan Simeon of Vinnitsa and Barsky.

Church crisis in Ukraine

Kiev has attempted to create a Local Orthodox Church in Ukraine independent of the Moscow Patriarchate since 1991. In April 2018, Poroshenko wrote a personal letter to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople asking for autocephaly for the Ukrainian church.

The Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople decided at its meeting held on October 9-11 to proceed with granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church. It revoked the 1686 decision on transferring the Kiev Metropolitanate under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate and announced plans to bring it back under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. It also reinstated the heads of two non-canonical churches in Ukraine, Filaret of the Kiev Patriarchate and Makariy of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church, to their hierarchical and priestly ranks.

On October 15, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church said in response to that move that full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was no longer possible.

On November 13, the Council of Bishops of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church held its meeting in Kiev Pechersk Lavra (the Kiev Monastery of the Caves). The Ukrainian Orthodox Church announced after the meeting it did not recognize Constantinople’s decisions on Ukraine and said it was severing full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church also spoke out against joining the process of granting autocephaly to Ukraine’s church and said it opposed its name change.

On December 5, Poroshenko announced that the so-called unification council to create the Ukrainian autocephalous church would take place on December 15. He said that Patriarch Bartholomew had sent letters to bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church "inviting them to take part in that historic event.". </s> The Ecumenical Patriarchate has granted self-rule, also known as autocephaly, to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

 

 The decision was reached during a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and published on the Patriarchate's website.

 

 The Synod decreed to “renew the decision already made that the Ecumenical Patriarchate proceed to the granting of Autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine.”

 

 The Synod also decreed to “reestablish, at this moment, the Stavropegion of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Kyiv, one of its many Stavropegia in Ukraine that existed there always.”

 

 Stavropegia are subordinated directly to the Patriarchate, rather than to a local bishop.

 

 It also decided to “accept and review the petitions of appeal of Filaret Denisenko, Makariy Maletych and their followers, who found themselves in schism not for dogmatic reasons, in accordance with the canonical prerogatives of the Patriarch of Constantinople to receive such petitions by hierarchs and other clergy from all of the Autocephalous Churches.”

 

 “Thus, the above-mentioned have been canonically reinstated to their hierarchical or priestly rank, and their faithful have been restored to communion with the Church,” it said. </s> CONSTANTINOPLE (AP) — A senior official in the Orthodox Church says “there’s no going back” in granting Ukrainian clerics full ecclesiastic independence from the Russian Orthodox Church.

However, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, who is part of a committee dealing with the Ukrainian question, told The Associated Press that the final step of the procedure has yet to be reached.

His comments came as Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I welcomed Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in Istanbul on Friday.

Ukraine’s president has launched a campaign to persuade Bartholomew, seen by many as the first among equals of Orthodox leaders, to accept Ukraine’s request.

Ukrainian politicians see a declaration, known as a “Tomos of Autocephaly,” as a key step in consolidating their country’s national identity.

Russian religious leaders see it as an attack on Orthodox unity. </s> Image copyright EPA Image caption Many Ukrainians welcomed Constantinople's ruling earlier this year, holding a prayer in Kiev

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has announced the creation of an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, marking a historic split from Russia.

He said national security depended on "spiritual independence" from Russia.

He was speaking at a special council of orthodox priests in Kiev, where a new leader of the church was selected.

The Russian Orthodox Church cut ties with the spiritual authority of the world's Orthodoxy after it recognised the Ukrainian Church's independence.

Russia also fears that its churches in Ukraine could be seized.

Despite Russia banning priests from the branch of the Church loyal to Moscow from the event, two of its bishops were seen arriving for the council in Kiev.

What happened in Kiev?

The special council was held in the ancient St Sophia's Cathedral - one of Kiev's best known landmarks.

Ukrainian clerics of different Orthodox denominations elected 39-year-old Metropolitan Epifaniy as the leader of the new church.

Epifaniy is now expected to travel to Istanbul on 6 January to receive a special decree, a tomos, granting independence (autocephaly) to the new church from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

"This day will go into history as a sacred day... the day of the final independence from Russia," President Poroshenko told a crowd of thousands outside the cathedral.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Believers gathered outside the cathedral on Saturday

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Orthodox clergymen conducted prayers ahead of the church council

Ahead of the meeting, Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, called on religious and world leaders to protect believers and clergymen in Ukraine from what he called persecution.

What is the dispute all about?

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been under the Moscow Patriarchate for centuries.

But tensions within the church mounted after Ukraine became independent in 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Before Sunday's council in Kiev, there were three Orthodox Church branches in Ukraine:

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kiev Patriarchate)

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)

The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

Now, priests from the Kiev Patriarchate and the Autocephalous Church become members of the new church - the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The drive for Ukrainian Orthodox independence intensified in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and Russia-backed separatists seized a big swathe of territory in eastern Ukraine.

The Moscow branch of the Ukrainian Church has denied being a tool of the Kremlin, and says it has tried to bring about peace in eastern Ukraine.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption St Sophia's Cathedral, pictured behind its huge bell tower, is one of Kiev's best known landmarks

Earlier this year, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople - seen as the first among equals in the world's Orthodoxy - overruled its decision dating back to 1686 to transfer its jurisdiction over Kievan Orthodox churches (known as the Kievan Metropolis) to Moscow.

Now Moscow fears losing many of its 12,000 parishes in Ukraine.

Constantinople holds sway over more than 300 million Orthodox Christians across the world.

The Russian Orthodox Church is by far the biggest.

Read more on related topics: </s> Before signing, the priests held a prayer in the Patriarchal Church of St. George.

At the ceremony held in Istanbul on Saturday, January 5, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew signed the tomos of autocephaly, that is, canonical independence, of the newly-created Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, Parliament Speaker Andriy Parubiy, former President Viktor Yushchenko, and other guests attended the ceremony.

Before signing, the priests held a prayer in the Patriarchal Church of St. George. After that, OCU Metropolitan Epifaniy and Petro Poroshenko held a meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch.

It was after this meeting that the signing ceremony took place.

Thus, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine became the 15th local Orthodox church.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko states that the Orthodox Church intends to grant the Kiev Patriarchate autocephaly.