"We recognize only the UOC headed by His Beatitude Onufriy." This was announced by the leaders of the Serbian and Polish Orthodox churches in their messages to the conference in Kyiv.
This is reported by the Information and Educational Department of the UOC-MP.
Bishop Anthony of Moravica, Vicar of the Patriarch, read out the Greeting Word of Patriarch Porfiry of Serbia to the organizers and participants of the International Conference "Conciliarity of the Church: theological, canonical and historical dimensions", which was held on November 11, 2021, at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.
"The Lord destined us to live in an era of loss of love (Mt. 24: 12) and the impoverishment of the sense of conciliarity in the Orthodox world. The result of this crisis was also the hardships that befell the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Support for schismatics, threats and violence, the seizure of Orthodox churches and the adoption of discriminatory laws directed against canonical Orthodoxy cannot be justified by any state or national considerations, because all this is an open struggle against Christ the Savior, as well as against his One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The Church of St. Sava has recognized and still recognizes only one canonical Church in Ukraine – the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the omophorion of Your Beatitude," Patriarch Porfiry said.
The Word of the Primate of the Polish Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Sava, was read out by the rector of the Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw (Poland), Archbishop George of Wroclaw and Szczecin.
"The topic of the conference is very important and relevant, given the crisis that has occurred in world Orthodoxy. The fact of the appearance of the so-called "Orthodox Church of Ukraine", instead of healing the religious sentiment in Ukraine has intensified and complicated it. Instead of the unity of society, it brought about the division that went beyond the so-called "Ukrainian schism" and affected the entire world Orthodoxy. Therefore, we need to constantly remind that the main sign of the conciliarity of the Holy Orthodox Church is its unity. It lives by loyalty to the dogmatic teaching of the Holy Church and has no place for ecclesiological compromise. Your Beatitude! Observing the canonical structure of the Holy Church, we express our support for you and the fullness of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church," Metropolitan Sava of Warsaw and All Poland said in his message.