page_title: Unification council of the Eastern Orthodox churches of Ukraine
section_title: After the October 2018 decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
hierarchical_section_title: Unification council of the Eastern Orthodox churches of Ukraine / History / After the October 2018 decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
caption_attribution_description: Українська: Петро Порошенко і патріарх Варфоломій підписують угоду «Про співробітництво та взаємодію між Україною та Вселенським Константинопольським Патріархатом».
context_page_description: The Unification council of the Eastern Orthodox churches of Ukraine is a council which was held on 15 December 2018 in the St Sophia's Cathedral in Kiev. The council voted to unite the existing Ukrainian Eastern Orthodox churches through their representatives, on the basis of complete canonical independence. All the members of the UOC-KP and the UAOC, and two members of the UOC-MP, merged into the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the unification council elected Epiphanius I as its first primate.
context_section_description: Following the 11 October 2018 decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to lift the excommunicaton of the UOC-KP and the UAOC and to grant autocephaly to Ukraine, preparations began for a unification council to institute an autocephalous Ukrainian church that would unite the UOC-KP, the UAOC, and those members of the UOC-MP who were willing to join. The date of this unification council was not set at that stage and, according to Filaret Denisenko, was up to the Patriarch of Constantinople to decide but he said he hoped that thanks to his church's efforts this council could take place before the end of 2018. Filaret said that the issue of jurisdictional affiliation of parishes would be decided by vote of the congregation of each parish. It was believed that a united Ukrainian church was a compulsory step before Ukraine could be granted the Tomos (formal decree) of autocephaly from the Patriarch of Constantinople.
  On 12 October 2018, the UOC-KP communicated that the 11 October decision by the Ecumenical Patriarchate had restored the canonical recognition of the episcopate and clergy of the Kiev Patriarchate. However, it was later clarified that Filaret was considered by the Ecumenical Patriarchate only as "the former metropolitan of Kiev", and Makariy as "the former Archbishop of Lviv" and, on 2 November, that the Ecumenical Patriarchate did not recognize either the UAOC or the UOC-KP as legitimate and that their respective leaders were not recognized as primates of their churches. The Ecumenical Patriarchate declared that it recognized the sacraments performed by the UOC-KP and the UAOC as valid. The 11 October 2018 decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate was viewed as a key step towards those two organizations merging into a single church independent from Moscow. The Russian Orthodox Church is linked to 12,000 parishes in Ukraine while the Kiev Patriarchate and UAOC had about 6,000; however, it was believed that many of the Russian-controlled Ukrainian parishes may defect to the Kiev organizations.
  According to Filaret, he would undoubtedly be the winner in case of an election of the leader of a united Ukrainian Church "because Moscow will do everything to destroy the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. And therefore, in order to preserve the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and brring [sic] the cause to the end, [he] ha[s] to work to the end". Filaret declared he was ready to take the role of head of a united Ukrainian Church.
  On 20 October 2018, in an interview with Espreso TV, the head of the UAOC, Makariy, declared that there was no negotiations in the direction of a united Ukrainian church and that after his last meeting with Filaret, at which Filaret said that only his statute would be used, Makariy began to question the success of the union. On 27 October Makariy told Zik TV he would not nominate his candidacy during the future council and would instead "support the one to be offered by the Ecumenical Patriarch".
  In an interview to the BBC on 2 November, Archbishop Job of the Ecumenical Patriarchate declared the united Ukrainian Church would be called "the Orthodox Church in Ukraine". However, Filaret, head of the UOC-KP, declared on 2 November to Radio Liberty that the united Ukrainian church would be called "Ukrainian Orthodox Church" with "Kiev Patriarchate" as the church's second name.
  On 3 November 2018, Ukrainian President Poroshenko, in visit in Turkey, signed a cooperation agreement with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. According to Poroshenko, this agreement "creates all the conditions for the preparation process for a unification assembly and the process of providing a tomos to be brought into clear correspondence with the canons of the Orthodox Church." This agreement led to protests by hierarchs of the UOC-MP and the ROC. The text of the agreement was later released on 12 March 2019.
  On 10 November, the website Vesti-Ukr allegedly revealed the heads of the UAOC and the UOC-KP, respectively Makariy and Filaret, had individually sent a letter to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Makariy declared the same thing as in his i
caption: Bartholomew I of Constantinople with Ukrainian President Poroshenko, signing the cooperation agreement, 3 November 2018
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