OCU Head: we are ready to establish vicariate for Romanian-language parishes

The main liturgical language in the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is Ukrainian, but national minorities can use in their communities the language that is their native and is comprehensible to them. Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and all Ukraine, Head of the OCU said it in an interview with UKRINFORM.

"Since the state designates Ukrainian as an official language, the main liturgical language of our Church is the Ukrainian language. Other national minorities can use in their communities a language that is their native and is comprehensible to them. Recently we even ordained a Bishop for the Greek-speaking parishes. There are many Greeks in Ukraine who gather for the Liturgy and can pray in their own understandable language in our Local Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The same now applies to the Romanian-speaking parishes which are located in Bukovyna," said the hierarch.

He said that the Romanian Orthodox Church embraces the parishes that pray in Ukrainian. They constitute the Ukrainian-speaking vicariate.

According to the Primate, in the Ukrainian Church there is a desire in the future to set up a vicarate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for Romanian-speaking parishes. There are about 150 of them in Bukovyna.

The Metropolitan stressed that the vicarate is a component of the Church on whose territory they are canonically located, but the language of their worship, in this case is Romanian.

"If we come to an agreement, agree on this with the Romanian Orthodox Church, we will support such a model. Now there are parishes which come to us and ask to keep the Slavonic language, and we don't create barriers for them in this issue. But they will preach in Ukrainian. For example, in such parishes the Gospel can be read in the Ukrainian language and in the Slavonic language in parallel at first, and over time, in the future, the community will gradually become Ukrainized," the Primate explained.