The UGCC was pleased with the news of the creation of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine and its receipt of the Tomos from the Ecumenical Patriarch.
This was stated by Metropolitan Borys Gudziak of the UGCC after an online lecture from the series "Spiritual Values of Man" in the National University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy", answering questions from students.
"I am a church historian. I have studied trials and tribulations, wandering, and the persecution of the Orthodox Church for years. And, taking into account the rules of the game in the Orthodox world, the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church should have come to pass long ago," he said.
The hierarch noted that the head of the UGCC shares the same opinion on the Tomos.
"I'm just happy for my Orthodox brothers. Anyone who followed this knows that it was my personal posture. This is the pose of the head of my Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk. We rejoiced at the Tomos," His Eminence stressed.
Metropolitan Boris shared how in December 2018, at a charity event in support of the UCU, Patriarch Sviatoslav delivered a warm congratulatory speech when he learned that the Ukrainian Church would receive the Tomos. All participants of the event were happy about this event at that time.
Bishop Boris also recalled his recent meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew in Kyiv.
"I was very pleased to meet with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople last week. This is a beautiful, calm, and intelligent person. The man is truthful, not canonically blinkered. This is a person who felt the pain of the Ukrainian soul, who considered the sacrifices and loyalty of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. And I think he took a very important step. I am glad that His Beatitude Epifaniy, at his young age, finds this benevolence of spirit, openness to the Gospel and wisdom in this difficult test. He promptly received some hard blows, but he doesn't get upset, doesn't act aggressively.
I would just like to wish God's great blessing to the recently recognized Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine," Metropolitan Borys Gudziak said.