Metropolitan Volodymyr Surprised to Hear About Decisions of Synod of His Church

An authoritative source in the Kyivan Metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) reported to Religion in Ukraine that the situation regarding the signing of the latest decisions of the Synod of UOC-MP of January 26 by its head, Metropolitan Volodymyr, remains unsettled.

Metropolitan Volodymyr was surprised to hear about certain rotation decisions of the Synod. The primate cannot sign the decisions which were not coordinated with him, in order not to provoke further conflict in the UOC-MP. If he refuses to sign them, the decisions of the Synod will hardly be considered valid.

In addition, according to Religion in Ukraine, the head of UOC-MP was prepared to participate in the session of the Holy Synod. One of the options considered was for the members of the Synod to come to the hospital where the metropolitan stays. However, the session was held without the primate’s participation.

At the same time, according to Paragraph 17 of Chapter 4 of the effective Statutes on Government of the UOC, the permanent member of the Synod with the longest record of bishop’s ministry can act as the chairman of the Holy Synod only if Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine cannot do that for some reason. If the information about the ability and readiness of Metropolitan Volodymyr to participate in the session of the Synod of January 26 is confirmed and if the ruling head of UOC-MP does not approve the journals of the Synod, the legitimacy of its decisions will remain disputable.