Metropolitan Volodymyr reserves the right to head the Kyivan Metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate.
Metropolitan Volodymyr reserves the right to head the Kyivan Metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate
The Primate wrote so in a letter to the Superior of the Kyivan Cave Monastery, Metropolitan Pavlo (Lebed) of Vyshhorod and Chornobyl.
In his letter, published by Orthodox.org.ua, Metropolitan Volodymyr expressed his gratitude to the Synod of 26 January for the support provided to him in the government of the Kyivan Eparchy of UOC-MP during the period of his sickness but stressed that he reserves the right to be the ruling bishop of the Kyiv Cathedra and appointed Metropolitan Pavlo Senior Vicar of Kyiv and Kyivan Eparchy of UOC for the time of his sickness.
“On our recommendation, by the decision of the Holy Synod, the Kyivan Eparchy was once divided into suffragancies headed by suffragan bishops. The experience showed that this kind of government proved effective and satisfactory for us. Despite our frequent absences due to archpastoral visits, there were no problems in the eparchial life which would be too difficult for our apparatus of government of the eparchy to solve. I hope that it will be so in future as well.
As the Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, Head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Kyivan Eparchy, I give my blessing to Bishop Pavlo, Metropolitan of Vyshhorod and Chornobyl to be the Senior Vicar of the City of Kyiv and Kyivan Eparchy,” reads the letter of Metropolitan Volodymyr.
The Head of UOC-MP pointed out that decisions on the Kyivan Eparchy should be passed jointly with the heads of suffragancies and submitted to him for his approval and signature.
Correspondence and documents will be passed to the primate by his personal secretary.