Church of Ukraine

The Church of Ukraine is an autonomous Orthodox church whose primate is confirmed by the Church of Russia. Its history extends to the introduction of Christianity into Kievan Rus' with the baptism of Prince St. Vladimir of Kiev and his people in 988, known as the Baptism of Rus'. Its current primate is His Beatitude Volodymyr (Sabodan) (who resides at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, which is the heartbeat of Ukrainian Orthodoxy), Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine. Its autonomy is currently not recognized in international Orthodox gatherings.
==History==
==Ukrainian Orthodox divisions==
:Main article: Orthodox divisions in Ukraine
Orthodox Christianity in Ukraine is currently divided into three main factions:
*Church of Ukraine (Moscow Patriarchate) (UOC-MP) (which this article covers)
*Church of Ukraine (Kiev Patriarchate) (UOC-KP)
*Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC)
Only the UOC-MP is currently in full communion with the Church of Russia and the remainder of the mainstream Orthodox Church.
The Ukrainian Church with about 9.5 million faithful is under the canonical jurisdiction of Moscow; the two breakaway churches with 14.5 million faithful combined, developed after the fall of the Soviet Union.A Schism in the Orthodox Church? George Gilson. Spero News, August 01, 2008
===Orthodox-Eastern Catholic divisions===
In 2004, there were 10,310 Ukrainian Orthodox and 3,328 Eastern Catholic Churches Greek Catholic (UGCC) congregations registered in Ukraine.Ukraine: Conflict between Orthodoxy and Greek Catholicism
==Structure of the Church==
Church of Ukraine in 2007 has 42http://orthodox.org.ua/uk/2007/08/23/1626.html , http://orthodox.org.ua/uk/istoriya_eparhiy_0 (in ukrainian). dioceses (eparchies):
#Diocese of BerdyanskTransliteration of cities according to w:Administrative divisions of Ukraine. (established in 2007)
#Diocese of Bila Tserkva (1030th as Diocese of Yuriiv; re-established in 1994)
#Diocese of Cherkasy (1898)
#Diocese of Chernihiv (988)
#Diocese of Chernivtsi (1401; 1783)
#Diocese of Dnipropetrovsk (1775; 1803; 1926)
#Diocese of Donetsk (1991)
#Diocese of Horlivka (1994)
#Diocese of Ivano-Frankivsk (1946)
#Diocese of Kahovka
#Diocese of Kamyanets-Podilsk (1795)
#Diocese of Kharkiv (1799; 1836)
#Diocese of Kherson (1775; 1837; 1991)
#Diocese of Khmelnytskyi (1795; 1990)
#Diocese of Khust (1994)
#Diocese of Kirovohrad (1947)
#Diocese of Konotop (1994)
#Diocese of Kremenchuk
#Diocese of Kryvyi Rih (1996)
#Diocese of Kiev (Kyiv) (988)
#Diocese of Luhansk (1944)
#Diocese of Lviv (1156)
#Diocese of Mykolaiv (1992)
#Diocese of Nizhyn (2007)
#Diocese of Odessa (1873; 1991)
#Diocese of Olexandria (2007)
#Diocese of Ovruch (1993)
#Diocese of Poltava (1054; 1803)
#Diocese of Rivne (1990)
#Diocese of Sarny (1999)
#Diocese of Severodonetsk (2007)
#Diocese of Shepetivka (2007)
#Diocese of Simferopol (1859)
#Diocese of Sumy (1945)
#Diocese of Ternopil (1988)
#Diocese of Tulchyn (1994)
#Diocese of Uzhhorod and Mukacheve (9 century; 2007)
#Diocese of Vinnytsia (1933)
#Diocese of Volodymyr-Volynskyi (992; 1996)
#Diocese of Volyn (992; 1996)
#Diocese of Zaporizhia (1992)
#Diocese of Zhytomyr (1799; 1944)
==Current episcopacy==
By their rankIn Ukrainian (and Russian) tradition "metropolitan" is higher status than "archbishop"..
The Church currently has 58 bishops (42 diocesan bishops, 12 vicar bishops, and 4 retired), which consists of 10 metropolitans, 21 archbishops, and 26 bishops. There is also 8516 priests, and 443 deacons.
===Primate===
# Volodymyr (Sabodan), metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine, Primate (Predstoyatel) of Ukrainian Orthodox Church
===Diocesan bishops===
# Nykodym (Rusnak), metropolitan of Kharkiv and Bohodukhiv (1961)
# Iryney (Seredniy), metropolitan of Dnipropetrovsk and Pavlohrad (1975)
# Agafangel (Savvin), metropolitan of Odessa and Izmail (1975)
# Lazar (Shvets), metropolitan of Simferopol and Crimea (1980)
# Ioannykiy (Kobzev), metropolitan of Luhansk and Alchevsk (1990)
# Nyfont (Solodukha), metropolitan of Lutsk and Volyn (1990)
# Onufriy (Berezovkyi), metropolitan of Chernivtsi and Bukovyna (1990)
# Ilarion (Shukalo), metropolitan of Donetsk and Mariupol (1991)
# Antoniy (Fialko), metropolitan of Khmelnytskyi and Starokostiantyniv (1992)
# Mark (Petrovtsiy), archbishop of Sumy and Ohtyrka (1988)
# Ionafan (Yeletskykh), archbishop of Tulchyn and Bratslav (1989)
# Varfolomiy (Vashchuk), archbishop of Rivne and Ostroh (1990)
# Vasyliy (Zlatolynskyi), archbishop of Zaporizhia and Melitopol (1990)
# Serhiy (Hensytskyi), archbishop of Ternopil and Kremenetsk (1991)
# Feodor (Hayun), archbishop of Kamyanets'-Podilskyi and Horodotskyi (1992)
# Sofroniy (Dmytruk), archbishop of Cherkasy and Kaniv (1992)
# Vissarion (Stretovych), archbishop of Ovruch and Korosten (1992)
# Pytyrym (Starynskyi), archbishop of Mykolaiv and Voznesensk (1992)
# Avhustyn (Markevych), archbishop of Lviv and Halych (1992)
# Anatoliy (Hladkyi), archbishop of Sarny and Polissia (1993)
# Huriy (Kuzmenko), archbishop of Zhytomyr and Novohrad-Volynsk (1994)
# Symeon (Shostatskyi), archbishop of Vinnytsia and Mohyliv-Podilskyi (1996)
# Yefrem (Kytsay), archbishop of Kryvoriz and Nikopol' (1996)
# Ioann (Siopko), archbishop of Kherson and Tavria (1996)
# Mytrofan (Yurchuk), archbishop of Bila Tserkva and Bohuslav (2000)
# Fylyp (Osadchenko), archbishop of Poltava and Myrhorod (2001)
# Panteleimon (Romanovsky), bishop of Kirovohrad and Novomyrhorod (1992)
# Inokentiy (Shestopal), bishop of Konotop and Hlukhiv (1996)
# Amvrosiy (Polikopa), bishop of Chernihiv and Novhorod-Siverskyi (1998)
# Ahapit (Bevtsyk), bishop of Syeverodonets' and Starobil' (1998)
# Panteleimon (Bashchuk), bishop of Olexandria and Svitlovodsk (2000)
# Mytrofan (Nikitin), bishop of Horlivka and Slovyansk (2007)
# Yelysey (Ivanov), bishop of Berdiansk and Prymorsk (2007)
# Nykodym (Horenko), bishop of Volodymyr-Volynsk and Kovel (2007)
# Iryney (Semko), bishop of Nizhyn and Baturyn (2007)
# Volodymyr (Melnyk), bishop of Shepetivka and Slavuta (2007)
# Ilariy (Shyshkovskyi), bishop of Severodonetsk and Starobilsk (2007)
# Panteleimon (Luhovyi), bishop of Ivano-Frankivsk and Kolomyia (2007)
===Auxiliary bishops===
# Mykolaj (Hrokh), archbishop of Bilohorod (Metropolis of Kiev) (1992)
# Pavel (Lebid), archbishop of Vyshhorod (Metropolis of Kiev), superior of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (1997)
# Onufriy (Lehkyi), archbishop of Izyum (Diocese of Kharkiv) (2000)
# Volodymyr (Moroz), archbishop of Pochaiv (Metropolis of Kiev), superior of Pochaiv Lavra (2000)
# Luka (Kovalenko), bishop of Vasylkiv (Metropolis of Kiev) (2005)
# Arseniy (Yakovenko), bishop of Sviatohirsk (Diocese of Horlivka) (2005)
# Meletiy (Yehorenko), bishop of Khotyn (Diocese of Chernivtsi) (2006)
# Oleksiy (Hrokha), bishop of Bilhorod-Dnistrovsk (Diocese of Odessa) (2006)
# Antoniy (Pakanych), bishop of Boryspil (Metropolis of Kiev) (2006)
# Varnava (Filatov), bishop of Makiyivka (Diocese of Donetsk) (2007)
# Serafym (Demyaniv), bishop of Yahotyn (Metropolis of Kiev) (2007)
# Alexander (Drabynko), bishop of Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi (Metropolis of Kiev), secretary of the Metropolitan of Kiev (2007)
===Retired bishops===
# Mefodiy (Petrovtsiy), ex-bishop of Khust and Vynohradiv (1994-1998)
# Alipiy (Pohrebniak), schibishopBishop in monastic schema., ex-bishop of Horlivka and Slovyansk (1991-1997)
# Ipolyt (Khylko), ex-bishop of Khust and Vynohradiv (1992-2006)
# Serhiy (Zaliznytskyi), schibishop, ex-bishop Serafim of Severodonetsk and Starobilsk (1994-2007)
==Monasteries==
*Samara Desert-Nicholas Monastery, Novomoskovsk, Ukraine.
==Ukrainian Orthodoxy abroad==
Orthodox churches of the Ukrainian tradition outside of Ukraine are mainly cared for by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, including:
*Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA
*Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada
These Orthodox churches have frequently maintained good relations with all the Orthodox Church jurisdictions in Ukraine. As examples, both North American jurisdictions have former priests of the three major Orthodox jurisdictions in their respective Churches, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada blesses the use of a select number of books from the Kievan Patriarchate as Ukrainian translations. 
However, tensions have emerged recently with the expansion of UOC-KP parishes into North America outside of the jurisdictions of the already standing UOC. There are also Ukrainian parishes outside of Ukraine in dioceses of Moscow Patriarchate .
But even outside the Ukraine there are numerous splinter groups. These include
*Autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America (AUOCA) which was formerly known as the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church - Canonical and which claims its lineage through the Tomos of Autonomy of 1924 given by the Orthodox Church of Poland.
==References==
==See also==
*Union of Brest-Litovsk
*List of Metropolitans of Kiev
==External links==
*Ukrainian Orthodox Church, official website (Ukrainian, Russian)
*Ukrainian Orthodox Church, official website (English)
*Orthodox Ukraine, website of UOC press service (Ukrainian, Russian)
*Orthodoxy in Ukraine, UOC news website (Ukrainian, Russian)
*Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church of North and South America and the Diaspora, official website (English, Ukrainian, Spanish)
*Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church of America, official website (English)
*Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, official website (English, Ukrainian, Russian)
*Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada, official website (English, Ukrainian)
*Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States of America, official website (English, Ukrainian)
*Religious-Information Service of Ukraine, (Ukrainian, English, Russian, German, Italian)
* Interfax-Religion. Orthodox public concerned for threat of neo-nazism in Ukraine 27 October, 2006.
Ukraine
fr:Église d'Ukraine (Patriarcat de Moscou)
ro:Biserica Ortodoxă a Ucrainei