Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church Welcomes Decision of Council of Five

The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) “considers relevant and useful for modern church life the results of the work of the council of the original patriarchates and the autocephalous Church of Cyprus (Constantinople, September 1-3, 2011),” reads a statement of the Patriarchate of the UAOC published on September 9.

According to the UAOC, of great use is the “revival of the ancient custom” of gathering the heads of the ancient churches, which were “founded by Christ’s Apostles and proclaimed autocephalous at the Ecumenical Council of the Undivided Church” (from the Epistle of the Council to the fullness of the church and all people of good will).

“The institution of the Pentarchy is one of the important historic tools of the catholicity of the Orthodox Church. As shown by the experience of the council of the ancient пatriarchates, this tool today, as well as in the old days, serves in the consolidation and canonical unity of the Orthodox Christians in the world.”

According to the UAOC, the Council of Five was useful not only for the Christians living in the Middle East but also for the world Orthodox community in view of “two important problems actively discussed at the council, the necessity to bring closer the convocation of the Holy and Great (All-Orthodox) Council in the near future and the necessity to preserve the traditional canonical order of the Orthodox Churches, particularly, the strict observance of the borders of their jurisdictions by the national churches.”

The authors of the documents note: “It is known that neither the holy canons nor the Tomos on the establishment of the Moscow Patriarchate (1589) say that Ukraine is a canonical territory of that national church. Moreover, The Tomos of the Autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Poland (1924) clearly says that the annexation of the Ukrainian Church to the Moscow Patriarchate was carried out contrary to the canons and, therefore, is not valid from the point of view of the canonical law.”

With reference to the communiqué of the Council of Five stressing the necessity for all national churches to respect and observe the geographical borders of their jurisdictions “as defined by the holy canons and Tomoses on the establishment of these churches,” the UAOC “welcomes this statement of the ancient patriarchates and the Archdiocese of Cyprus and considers it to be another constructive, canonical impulse to settle the Ukrainian Church issue by joint efforts of the Ecumenical Orthodoxy, the Ukrainian autocephalous movement and the Moscow Patriarchate,” reads the statement.