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Constantinople Doesn’t Recognize Kyiv Church as under Moscow, Says Ukrainian Orthodox USA Archbishop

26.03.2005, [09:45] // Foreign relations //

New Jersey, USA— “The Moscow Patriarchate consists of that territory which it encompassed to the year 1686.” Archbishop Vsevolod (Majdanski) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA (UOC USA), a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, told this to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko at a meeting on 24 March 2005. The archbishop added that Kyiv’s “subjugation” to the Russian Orthodox Church, starting that year and continuing to the present, was not ratified by Constantinople.

According to the press release of the Ukrainian government, during his discussion with Archbishop Vsevolod, Yushchenko stressed that his government will not directly involve itself in ecclesiastical matters. “We stand for the equality of all churches,” the president said. The meeting also centered on the necessity of developing harmonious interdenominational relationships on the road to the establishment of a local Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Archbishop Vsevolod expressed the good wishes of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to both President Yushchenko and the Ukrainian nation.

During the meeting with the president, Archbishop Vsevolod made a statement which, according to the UOC USA public relations office, reflects the position of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople: “The position of the Mother Church, the Patriarchate of Constantinople, is that her daughter, the Moscow Patriarchate, consists of that territory which it encompassed to the year 1686. The subjugation of the Kyivan Metropolitanate to the Moscow Patriarchate was concluded by Patriarch Dionysius without the agreement or ratification of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Great Church of Christ (the Patriarchate of Constantinople).”

During his recent visit to Ukraine, Archbishop Vsevolod also met with Patriarch Filaret, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate, Metropolitan Volodymyr, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church–Moscow Patriarchate, and Archbishop Makarii of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) in Lviv.

Another hierarch of the UOC USA, Archbishop Antony of the church’s eastern eparchy, also recently traveled to Ukraine and met with Yushchenko.

On 11 March, Archbishop Antony met with Yushchenko to discuss the continued ecclesiastical struggles in Ukraine and sought the government’s assistance in resolving the issues which divide the church. The president expressed his deep desire to see a single, united Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine and indicated that he will work closely with all sides, in particular the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, to bring this unity about. The archbishop also invited the president to visit South Bound Brook/Somerset, New Jersey, the Metropolitanate Center of the UOC USA, during his upcoming working visit to President Bush in Washington, D. C. President Yuschenko expressed a sincere desire to make that visit.

Archbishop Antony also met with hierarchs of the UAOC, Metropolitan Andrii of Ivano-Frankivsk and Archbishop Makarii of Lviv, and with clergy who serve in the UAOC Patriarchate Office in Kyiv to discuss recent developments in the life of the church.

Source: UOC USA office of public relations

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