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Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC-MP) Examines Internal Affairs & Position to Others

18.07.2008, [16:13] // UOC-MP //

Kyiv— At the residence of the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) in the Kyivan Monastery of Caves, a session of the UOC-MP Synod, led by Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan), met on 16 July 2008. Issues discussed included the UOC-MP’s internal affairs and its position to Ukrainian churches not in communion with it.

The synod accepted an appeal to Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexis II, with a proposition to introduce modifications and supplements to the Statutes of the Russian Orthodox Church concerning canonical procedures and the clergy, which were introduced at the Patriarchal Sobor (Assembly) of the UOC-MP on 24-29 June 2008.

The UOC-MP Synod asked for the introduction of a norm in the section on church courts in which the right to prohibit ministers from serving, depriving them of priestly orders, and excommunication from the church on the territorial borders of the UOC-MP would be handed over to the head of the church and the synod.

The members of the synod listened to the “Address of the Synod and Episcopate of the UOC-KP [Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate] to the hierarchs, clergy, and faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (part of the Moscow Patriarchate)” of 14 December 2007, and accepted the decision to prepare a response. The members of the synod stated: “an artificial and accelerated process of making the Ukrainian Orthodox Church [UOC-MP] autocephalous today seems to us unjustified and one that could lead to new church divisions.”

In response to the address of the Patriarchal Sobor [Assembly] of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, in which it expressed its readiness to continue the dialogue about renewing the union of Ukrainian Orthodoxy, the UOC-MP Synod stressed that “the head and the episcopate of the UOC-MP sincerely aspire to overcome the schism, but, however, reject ways and models for the unification of Ukrainian Orthodoxy that can create new divisions or disturb the eucharistic and prayerful communion of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church [UOC-MP] with universal Orthodoxy.”

The UOC-MP Synod answered an address of the Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) which underlined that the UOC-MP shares the UGCC’s disturbance about church division, however does not accept “union” propositions for the achievement of unity. Together with this the UOC-MP proposes that the UGCC work together in the social sphere.

The UOC-MP Synod directed an address to the president of Ukraine, head of Parliament, and prime minister concerning the proclamation of 28 July as the Day in Memory of Equal to the Apostles Grand Prince Saint Volodymyr as a national holiday in Ukraine.

The synod listened to a report by the head of the Ecclesiastical Court of the UOC-MP, Metropolitan of Chernivtsi and Bukovyna Onuphrii, and approved the membership of the court.

Members of the synod also confirmed renewing the members of the Commission on the Canonization of Saints.

Participating in the session were: Metropolitan Ahafanhel of Odesa and Izmail, Metropolitan of Dnipropetrovsk and Pavlohrad Irinei, Archbishop of Khutsk and Vynohrad Mark, Archbishop of Bilotserkva and Bohuslav Mytrofan, Archbishop of Kamianets-Podilskyi and Horodok Feodor, as well as Bishop of Oleksandriiskyi and Svitlovodskyi Panteleimon and Bishop of Boryspil Antonii.

Sources:

• http://orthodox.org.ua/uk/aktualne/2008/07/16/3232.html

• http://www.risu.org.ua/ukr/resourses/religdoc/uocmp_doc/sinod2008/upckp