OCU explains Synod decision on liquidation of legal entities of Kyiv Patriarchy of UOC-KP and Patriarchy of UAOC

The press service of the Kyiv Metropolia of the UOC (Orthodox Church of Ukraine) issued a clarification statement concerning the grounds on which the liquidation of legal entities "Kyiv Patriarchy of UOC-KP" and "Patriarchy of the UAOC" was performed.

The text of the document appeared on the official page of the OCU:

"On July 27, 2019, pursuant to the decisions of the Local Council of the UOC of the Kyiv Patriarchate (December 15, 2018) and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (December 15, 2018) on the termination of activity of religious associations of the UOC-KP and the UAOC by unification and joining the Orthodox Church of Ukraine set up by the Unification Council, the regular session of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine adopted the necessary procedural decisions on termination of legal entities "Kyiv Patriarchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate and the Patriarchy of UAOC" by joining of the Kyiv Metropolia of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Orthodox Church of Ukraine).

As it was previously reported, on December 15, 2018, before the beginning of the Unification Local Council, the Local Councils of the UOC-Kyiv Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church were held, which adopted identical coordinated decisions: to terminate the activities of these two religious associations by unification and joining the newly established Orthodox Church of Ukraine, to terminate the activities of all the statutory bodies of these two associations, as well as after the registration of the Kyiv Metropolis as a religious center of the UOC, to terminate the legal entities that represented these religious associations – the Kyiv Patriarchy of the UOC-KP and the Patriarchy of the UAOC.

It is known that the Kyiv Metropolia of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Orthodox Church of Ukraine) was registered on January 30, 2019, in connection with which, according to the Council's decisions, legal entities "Kyiv Patriarchy of the UOC-KP" and "Patriarchy of the UAOC" ceased to represent any religious association. However, the further existence of these legal entities brought discord into the ecclesial environment and society, and was used by opponents of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as a ground to question the results of the Unification Council and the existence of the Local UOC. The attempts were also detected to put pressure on the hierarchs and clergy of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in order to coax them into division by blackmailing them with possible property seizure which is used by some religious organizations of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (dioceses, monasteries, theological educational institutions) but was registered with the Kyiv Patriarchate of the UOC-KP.

Considering that the Plenitude of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church became a part of the newly established Local Autocephalous Church – the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and the only religious center representing the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, created by the unification process, is the religious organization "Kyiv Metropolia of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Orthodox Church of Ukraine)", the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine which assumed all the functions of the regulatory bodies of religious associations of the UOC-KP and UAOC, adopted procedural decisions on the termination of legal entities "Kyiv Patriarchy of the UOC-KP" and "Patriarchy of the UAOC".

Liquidation commissions were set up to implement these decisions. On July 29, 2019, the relevant amendments were made to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. From this day on, the official governing body of the "Kyiv Patriarchate of the UOC-KP" is a liquidation commission, composed of Metropolitan Ioan of Cherkassy and Chyhyryn (Chairman), Archbishop Nestor of Ternopil and Kremenets, Archbishop Yevstratiy of Chernihiv and Nizhyn, Archpriest Valery Semantso and Archpriest Petro Landvytovych. The governing body of the Patriarchy of the UAOC is the liquidation commission composed of Archbishop Volodymyr of Zhytomyr and Polissya (Chairman), Archbishop Herman of Chernivtsi and Khotyn, Archpriest Vitaly Danchak.

Any statements and actions on behalf of legal entities "Kyiv Patriarchy of the UOC-KP" and "Patriarchate of the UAOC" made by other unauthorized persons are illegal and do not give rise to legal consequences."