Metropolitan Antoniy: UOC-Moscow Patriarchate Will Not Change Its Name

The administrator of Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), Metropolitan Antoniy (Pakanych) of Boryspil, said at the opening of the 7th Festival of Orthodox Mass Media in Lviv on May 27 that he opposed the idea of renaming the church.

The administrator of Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), Metropolitan Antoniy (Pakanych) of Boryspil, said at the opening of the 7th Festival of Orthodox Mass Media in Lviv on May 27 that he opposed the idea of renaming the church in an answer to a question of a representative of the Union of Orthodox Brotherhoods of Ukraine.

The representative noted that the name of the church did not contain the words "Kyiv" or "Rus" which point to the "sources of Orthodoxy."

"We know that the Patriarch of Constantinople’s title is 'of Constantinople' and not 'of Istanbul.' The same with the Church of Constantinople. Therefore, the situation is not logical and historically unjust. What would you say to renaming the church to include the words 'Kyiv' or 'Rus?'" he asked.

Metropolitan did not like the proposed idea of renaming: "I think the most important thing is that the name of our church contains the word 'Orthodox.'"