Rep of Russian Church Considers Issue of Ukrainian Autocephaly Exaggerated

Representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate view the hullabaloo regarding the possible autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as artificial, Vladimir Legoida, head of the Information Department of the Russian Orthodox Church, said in an article published in the Ogoniek magazine.

“Unfortunately, there is a tendency to exaggerate the danger of the divide between the Rus and Ukrainian Church, and, in my opinion, it is groundless. The idea that clergymen of the older generation are oriented towards Moscow and younger ones seek autocephaly and maximal distancing from the Moscow Patriarchate is also questionable,” wrote Vladimir Legoida in an article published in the Ogoniek magazine last Monday.

He gave the example of a recent interview of the Secretary of the Head of the UOC Archbishop Oleksandr (Drabynko) who “is considered to be one of the leaders of the pro-Ukrainian movement.” Mr. Legoida quoted Archbishop Oleksandr as saying: “We have one church, the Russian Orthodox one. The UOC is a part of the Moscow Patriarchate, a self-ruled part thereof, and there are no complaints on the part of the ROC regarding the developments in UOC.”

“I am deeply convinced that the true threat in the Ukrainian-Russian issues (including church ones) is not the diversity of opinions but in the so-called pseudo analytics which is unfortunately present in the media and in statements of official representatives and politicians,” stated the representative of the ROC.