According to the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP), two positions exist regarding the future of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP): one camp is for granting autocephaly (the majority), and the other camp, which is smaller but more aggressive, is for fully joining Moscow.
“I was directly told at the Hierarchical Council of the ROC in 1992 that if I do not abdicate the Kyiv Cathedra, they will deny the independence of the UOC. Today, Metropolitan Volodymyr feels the same threat. All the bishops feel it. Patriarch Kirill began to visit Ukraine more often precisely to let people get used to the fact that he is the head of the UOC-MP and not Metropolitan Volodymyr,” said Patriarch Filaret in an interview to Kommentarii.
According to the head of the UOC-KP, if Moscow takes the step of denying the independence of the UOC-MP, those who disagree will transfer from the UOC-MP to the UOC-KP.
“Therefore, in this struggle, Metropolitan Volodymyr cannot stand fast without the existence of the Kyivan Patriarchate: he needs us as a force protecting him with the very fact of its existence. And Moscow is rather afraid to openly deny the right of self-government because the representatives of the UOC-MP who disagree can decide to join the UOC-KP. Therefore, the relations between our churches, the Kyivan Patriarchate and Kyiv Metropolitanate, are better than before, for instance, 10 years ago. And I can see that there is no activity as far as an attack against the Kyivan Patriarchate is concerned. If there are attacks, they are coming not from the church but from representatives of the authorities; representatives of the UOC-MP understand that the future can put them in our place,” stressed Patriarch Filaret.