In the spiritual center of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the United States the 19th synod of this church was held. Archbishop of Kharkiv and Poltava Ihor Isichenko was invited by the consistory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the United States to join the work of the synod.
According to the press service of the Kharkiv and Poltava Eparchy of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC), before the synod of October 25, Archbishop Ihor was at the session of the Metropolitan Council where he gave a report on the state of church life in Ukraine. The next day, October 26, the archbishop gave a presentation at the conference of clergy of the UOC in the United States.
“Our communities in Ukraine understand and accept the choice of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in the diaspora made in 1995 as a disclosure before the entire Kyivan Church the historical prospect of unification under the omophor of the Constantinople see for keeping not only our local community but also the entire Eastern Church from temptation of free or not free participation in the political project of the ‘new Babylon.’ This prospect became evident also for Orthodox Ukrainians on their native land during the historic visit of His Holiness Bartholomew I to Ukraine in 2008. And not only for Ukrainians because after the patriarchal visit interference by foreign politicians in our church life became even more brutal and cynical…It would have been irresponsible for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA to neglect apostolic service on the Northern American continent for helping the historic fatherland. But we would not be Christians if we did not understand, especially from the difficult experience of the last two decades, that only communally and brotherly overcoming the trials, which in the end have the same nature in the entire globalized world, can we pass the test of our Orthodox maturity with dignity, in Ukraine and in the US,” stressed the archbishop in an introductory word.