Patriarch Volodymyr For Return of 'Schismatics' to Church

On September 28, in Donetsk, a meeting of the Committee of the Inter-conciliar Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church on counteracting and overcoming church schisms was held, reports the website of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarcahte.

The participants discussed the following subjects approved by the Presidium of the Inter-conciliar Presence: theological and canonical analysis of the modern schisms; development of practical recommendations to prevent and overcome the schisms; admission in the bosom of the Orthodox Church of clergy and laity who turned from the schism.

The session was led by the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Volodymyr. At the opening of the event, he addressed the participants with a greeting word and stressed that "divisions and schisms are wounds on the Body of Christ, which is also the Body of the Church." He stressed the urgency of the issue of the choice of "the saving way of overcoming division which leads to perdition." "…the return to the saving bosom of the Church is able to impart life into the graceless actions of the schismatics," noted Metropolitan Volodymyr.

According to him, one should not meditate on the question if the sacraments administered in the schism are valid. "We should again and again repeat the thought expressed by our co-head,  his Eminence Bishop Ilarion at the last session: the external form of a sacrament, administered in the schism, in the event of return to the Bosom of the Church, is filled with grace and is not to be repeated. This approach can be applied if real progress is made in the healing of the schism in Ukraine, primarily, with regard to the Sacrament of Baptism," added the metropolitan.

The session was a closed one and according to its minutes, the working documents will be submitted to the consideration and approval of the local council.