Ukrainian Orthodox Churches Meet in Zurich

23.07.2001, 21:32

From July 13 to 16, 2001 discussions were held at Zurich, Switzerland's Hilton Hotel on the further fate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The three major Orthodox jurisdictions in Ukraine were joined by representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which initiated the meeting. Though no formal agreements were reached, the fact that the meeting was even held was seen as a sign of progress.

Metropolitan Andriy of Lviv and Sokal (Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate) gave his reflections on the situation: "No one was expecting any concrete results from these discussions. But it was, nevertheless, an essential step in the discussion process and the recognition of the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches. Up to this time the Moscow Patriarchate for more than a year had been postponing this four-sided commission." This gathering of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC), the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) was originally planned for July of 2000. The date had been changed a number of times because the Moscow Patriarchate did not want to conduct a dialogue with the UAOC and the UOC-KP.

Metropolitan Andriy noted "Blocking this discussion, the Moscow Patriarchate did not acknowledge the existence in Ukraine of two large Orthodox Churches: the UOC-KP and the UAOC. But now the Moscow Patriarchate has sat at the table with bishops of the two unrecognized Churches. From a canonical perspective this was very important for us." The meeting in Zurich was part of an ongoing effort of the UAOC and the UOC-KP to unite their Churches as part of the process of creating one Ukrainian Orthodox Church. (See RISU news of July 16 and June 26 for related stories.)

Metropolitan Andriy made clear the intentions of the UAOC and the UOC-KP: "Our Churches -- the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate -- have unambiguously stated that Ukraine needs a single local Orthodox Church. And at these discussions we suggested to Constantinople and Moscow that they should accelerate the recognition of this Church. It was announced that if Moscow delays the discussion, we would request the Patriarchate of Constantinople to receive us under its jurisdiction. And thus we would eventually obtain the status of national Ukrainian Orthodox Church. As far as I know representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate reacted strongly to this and protested. But I think that life goes on and further developments will force the Moscow Patriarchate to soften its position." The next round of the four-sided discussions of these Orthodox Churches is planned to be held again in Zurich on 28 October of this year. Materials for this article were taken from Ukrainian-language sources available at www.ukrop.com and the Information Service of the Lviv-Sokal Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate.