SPECIAL EDITION: UOC Declares Independence From Moscow Patriarchate
←click! Yesterday, May 27, may mark a turning point for Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression and genocide. I first became aware of this potentially HUGE event when I came across the article "Ukraine's Moscow-backed Orthodox Church Cuts Russia Ties" at the Barron's website, which reported that the UOC-MP had severed its subordinate status under the Moscow Patriarchate and declares that it is now an autocephalous (self-governing) Orthodox Church. The article from RISU was put into English by Google Translate. The first several paragraphs describe the change to its charter, but below is the salient portion:
9. Aware of the special responsibility before God, the Council expresses its deep regret over the lack of unity in Ukrainian Orthodoxy. The Council perceives the existence of a schism as a deep painful wound on the church body. It is especially unfortunate that the recent actions of the Patriarch of Constantinople in Ukraine, which resulted in the formation of the "Orthodox Church of Ukraine," only deepened misunderstandings and led to physical confrontation. But even in such crisis situations, the Council does not lose hope of resuming dialogue. In order for the dialogue to take place, the PCU representatives need to:
- to stop the seizure of churches and forced transfers of parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
- realize that their canonical status, as enshrined in the "Statute of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine", is in fact non-autocephalous and significantly inferior to the freedoms and opportunities in church activities provided by the Statute of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
- to resolve the issue of canonicity of the hierarchy of the PCU, because for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, as for most Local Orthodox Churches, it is obvious that to recognize the canonicity of the hierarchy of the PCU it is necessary to restore the apostolic succession of its bishops.
The Council expresses its deep conviction that the key to the success of the dialogue must be not only the desire to restore church unity, but also the sincere desire to build one's life on the principles of Christian conscience and moral purity.
10. Summing up the results of the work done, the Council offers a prayer of thanksgiving to the Merciful Lord for the possibility of fraternal communication and expresses hope for an end to the war and reconciliation of enemies. According to the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, may "grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son the Father, in truth and love" be with all of us, especially brothers and sisters in the Risen Christ. 1: 3).
We should keep in mind, though, that The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) also calls itself autocephalous but in fact maintains close ties to the Moscow Patriarchate. So we must wait and see whether the "hope of resuming dialogue" with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) that is under the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople will lead to reconciliation and formal unity of the OCU with the UOC. Please pray!
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