National Deputies Warn Constantinople Not to Interfere; UOC-KP Responds

One hundred and twenty-five national deputies of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) signed a statement addressed to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, warning it not to interfere in the internal life of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) are also criticized in the letter which was publicized on 13 July. The UOC-KP defended its position and the UAOC’s stance in relation to Ukrainian Orthodoxy.

The statement signed by the Ukrainian national deputies talks of negative consequences of the Papal Visit to Ukraine in June of 2001, which was opposed by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). The UOC-MP claims the Pope’s Visit aggravated problems between Greek Catholics and Orthodox in western Ukraine. The UOC-KP and the UAOC are criticized for greeting the Pope on June 24, which, it is claimed, will assist in the spread of Catholicism in its Greek Catholic version into eastern Ukraine. As the Patriarchate of Constantinople is trying to mediate with the UOC-KP and the UAOC in the matter of acknowledging a single Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the UOC-MP finds it guilty for cooperating with them in aiding Catholic expansion. The authors of the letter state that “government officials of Ukraine, uniates [Greek Catholics] and schismatics [UOC-KP and UAOC] have unjustly dragged the Patriarchate of Constantinople into political games intending to destroy Orthodoxy in Ukraine.

However, that government which lobbied for the Papal Visit and in Constantinople advanced the interests of the schismatics has been dismissed by the Ukrainian parliament.” Victor Yuschenko, former Prime Minister of Ukraine, was given a vote of “no confidence” on April 26 of this year and eventually resigned his post. “Now it is very important that the Patriarchate of Constantinople cease any support of these schismatic groups which disturb Orthodoxy in Ukraine. It is also important that Constantinople become the center of unity of Universal Orthodoxy, and not a refuge and a rescue for schismatics and other individual hierarchs separated from the Orthodox Church.” The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is called to “wake up to the problems of Orthodoxy in Ukraine, start on the path which would bring back trust in you, the trust which millions of Orthodox in Ukraine have always had for you. On our part we declare that with all our might we will work against any interference in the internal affairs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. And we are ready in this difficult time of disagreements and Uniate-Orthodox conflicts to put our muscle into the efforts.” The information was supplied by the official web-site of the UOC-MP. None of the names of the national deputies who signed the statement were mentioned there.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate in its official website gives a different interpretation of the problem of Church union in Ukraine. The UOC-KP and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church consider themselves the rightful successors of the Kyivan Metropolitanate. This was established in 988 after Kyivan-Rus was baptized, during the reign of Saint Volodymyr the Great. The Kyivan Metropolitanate covered the territory of contemporary Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic nations, parts of Poland and Russia’s Smolensk region. The Kyivan Metropolitanate was a part of the Patriarchate of Constantinople from 988 until 1686. At this time it was, in the opinion of representatives of the UOC-KP and UAOC, illegally, that is, not in accordance with the requirements of ecclesiastical canon law, torn from Constantinople and joined to the Moscow Patriarchate. The main point of the argument between the Constantinople and Moscow Patriarchates is the question of who has canonical authority over the Ukrainian lands. By acknowledging a single Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Constantinople would be indicating its canonical jurisdiction in the area. In this eventuality representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church threaten to cut off any relations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which could lead to a general split in world Orthodoxy.

Materials for this article were taken from the official website of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (www.orthodox.org.ua) and the official website of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (www.kievpatriarch.org). The original sources are in Russian, Ukrainian and partially in English.