The All-Ukrainian Brotherhood of St. Andrew the Apostle of the Ukrainian Orthodox Autocephalous Church (UAOC) claims that the present administration of the UAOC was formed in violation of church canons. The brotherhood released a statement on 21 November 2002 that speaks about this matter and the elimination of a religious split in Kyiv.
The reason for the statement was an announcement by Metropolitan Mefodii of Ternopil and Podillia on 14 November 2002, in which he called a sobor (assembly) of the UAOC for 11 December 2002 without the blessing of Metropolitan Konstantyn, an Orthodox hierarch in the US who is considered the spiritual head of the UAOC. According to Metropolitan Mefodii, this will be a hierarchical sobor without participation of the laity. The authors of the statement maintain that obstacles in the recognition of Metropolitan Konstantyn as the head of the UAOC were placed by the highest state authorities of Ukraine with the recommendation of Metropolitan Kiril of the Russian Orthodox Church, head of the Department of External Religious Affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate. This claim is based on the recording released on 14 November 2002 containing a talk between Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and Stepan Senchuk, former head of the Lviv regional administration and made on 11 July 2000.. “The laity of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church has grounds to suspect that the present administration of [the UAOC] has been formed in violation of church canons and because of the interference of the highest state authorities of Ukraine. Hence… its canonical authority is doubtful… and absolutely not in accord with church law,” reads the statement. In addition, the authors of the statement demanded the restoration of the Patriarchal Council headed by Metropolitan Konstantyn, or a representative, assigned by him. They also asked Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople and the bishops of the Church of Constantinople, as well as the permanent conference of Ukrainian Orthodox bishops in the diaspora, which belongs to the jurisdiction of the Constantinople patriarch, “to take the Orthodox community of Ukraine under their protection. At the national sobor of the UAOC from 14 to 15 September 2000, the church declared its repentance before the mother church and proclaimed its desire to join a single national Ukrainian Orthodox Church through adherence to church dogmas and canons under the religious guidance of a canonically recognized and spiritually authoritative archpastor.”