Archbishop Ihor: Strategic Task of UAOC is to Return Under Umbrella of Constantinople Patriarchate

The 22nd Eparchial Council of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) (registered as the UAOC renewed) began on March 14, in the St. Dmytrii’s Catechetical-Pastoral Center of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the website of the eparchy reported.

The council heard a report by Fr. Volodymyr Chervonnykov “Vocation for the Ministry of Priests and Laymen and Means of Formation Thereof” and a report by Archbishop Ihor “The Mission of the Kharkiv-Poltava Eparchy in the Establishment of One National Orthodox Church in Ukraine.”

In his report, the head of the Kharkiv-Poltava Eparchy, Archbishop Ihor, noted that in recent years, the number of independent autocephalous Orthodox communities has grown in Ukraine. In addition, according to the hierarch, “scandalous visits of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow to Ukraine and the sudden opening of backstage games regarding the seat of the head of UOC-MP have ruined one of the most firmly established myths in the area of church politics about the existence of a patriotic Ukrainian faction in the UOC-MP, which is ready to separate from Moscow and establish the 'one national church' in Ukraine.”

The head of the Kharkiv and Poltava Eparchy stressed that “for each of us it means to open the fullness of the church mission in the every-day progress toward Christ of our eparchial community, each of the parish communities, lay organizations and eparchial institutes. For there can be no 'one national' or any other church outside Christ.”

Archbishop Ihor said that the main task is the “return of the main historic successors of the Kyivan Metropolitanate of Constantinople Patriarchate under the umbrella of the Mother-Church,” following the example of the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches outside Ukraine in the 20th century, including the leadership of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, to which we belong.”

Archbishop Ihor stressed that from the viewpoint of the state laws of Ukraine, the Kharkiv-Poltava Eparchy acts as an independent religious association which is subordinated only to its own council and eparchial bishop. And from the point of view of the canonical law, according to him, the Kharkiv-Poltava Eparchy since July 27, 1942, has been “only a part of the UAOC,” which is now headed by Metropolitan Constantine (Bahan) and is under the jurisdiction of the Constantinople Patriarchate.

According to the hierarch, other eparchies of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church are gradually coming to the understanding of this strategy, particularly, “last year, the process of return of the parishes of Khmelnytsk Eparchies from the schism has begun,” which is hindered by the local authorities by all means.

According to the archbishop, “it appears that the same process begins in the Vinnytsia Eparchy and that Galicia and the parishes in Volyn and Tavria, which are dependent on it, are next in turn.”

Archbishop Ihor pointed to the fact that the Local [editor: National] status of the church “is guaranteed not so much by the existence of its own administrative center as by the preservation of the identity of the rite, its own saints, local specificities of the canonical law, system of the parish life, theological tradition, intrinsic attributes of the sacral art.” In this sense, the Kharkiv and Poltava eparchy is a “living testimony of the national originality of the Ukrainian Church active in the east, south and even in the center of Ukraine.”

The council passed resolutions on the basis of the reports. The deans reported on the church life in various regions.

The council prolonged the term of office of the Eparchial Council and Eparchial Revision Committee for one year.