KYIV – The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople decreed on October 11 that processes continue toward creating a fully self-governed Orthodox Church in Ukraine. The move, following a three-day Holy Synod in Istanbul, further solidifies support for an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church that Moscow has for centuries opposed.
In a communiqué issued on October 11, the Chief Secretariat of the Holy and Sacred Synod stated that it renewed the “decision already made that the Ecumenical Patriarchate proceed to the granting of autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine.”
In attendance were the two exarchs, or emissaries, whom Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew had dispatched to Kyiv in September to prepare for the granting of a Tomos that would bestow autocephaly on the Ukrainian church. They are Archbishop Daniel of Pamphilon, who is based in South Bound Brook, N.J., and Bishop Hilarion of Edmonton, Alberta.
Anathemas were lifted for Filaret Denysenko, patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP), and Metropolitan Makariy Maletych, head of the Ukrainian Auto-cephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC).
“Thus, the above-mentioned have been canonically reinstated to their hierarchical or priestly rank, and their faithful have been restored to communion with the Church,” the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s official announcement read.
In addition, the Chief Secretariat of the Synod revoked the synodal letter dating to 1686 that granted the patriarch of Moscow the right to ordain the metropolitan of Kyiv.
The Synod also appealed to “all sides involved that they avoid appropriation of churches, monasteries and other properties, as well as every other act of violence and retaliation, so that the peace and love of Christ may prevail.”
There are over 250 million Orthodox Christians worldwide. Nearly two-thirds of Ukrainians identify with the Orthodox faith and nearly half of those as parishioners of the UOC-KP, according to a nationwide poll conducted on August 30-September 9 jointly by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, the Razumkov Center and the SOCIS Center for Social and Marketing Research. About 16.9 percent said they identify with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate.