On 9 July 2001 in Kyiv the Hierarchical Sobor (Council) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) selected Metropolitan Ahafanhel of Odessa and Izmail to represent the Church at an upcoming meeting. The major Ukrainian Orthodox jurisdictions are to gather in Switzerland later in July to discuss Church union. The Patriarchate of Constantinople will send representatives and the Russian Orthodox Church is also expected to participate.
The UOC-MP had a session of its synod on 8 July at the Kyivan Monastery of the Caves at which Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) of Kyiv and All Ukraine (pictured at right)presided. The synod decided to call a meeting of the hierarchical sobor on the following day. The main question considered at the sobor was the position of the UOC-MP regarding the upcoming meeting in Switzerland. Episcopal delegations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) will meet in Zurich from 13 to 16 July to discuss the creation of one united Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Ahafanhel (secular name Oleksii Savvyn), the chosen representative of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate is, according to strana.ru, “experienced and influential. He is one of those steadfast ecclesiastical politicians and admistrators who are not ashamed of their pro-Russian convictions. Monks from the Odessa monasteries who are found in other eparchies always pursue an unwavering pro-Russian line.”
Regarding the other Ukrainian Orthodox Churches, Ahafanhel holds the position that no union with the UAOC and the UOC-KP is possible: the only possibility is to receive members of these Churches into the UOC-MP after they have repented of their separation from the Church. Archbishop Augustine of Lviv and Drohobych, one of the participants in the sobor, is of the opinion that the only way to solve the problem of schism is in accordance with ecclesiastical canons (laws), “namely, this will not be a union of equals but an acknowledgement that there was a schism and that the canonical Church is that of the Moscow Patriarchate.” The bishops at the sobor protested the interference of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, claiming it was very dangerous and, as the situation in Estonia proves, threatens to aggravate the religious situation in Ukraine.