UOC-KP Plans Its Own Celebration of 950th Anniversary of Monastery of the Caves

The Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) met on 27 July 2001 and decided to hold its own celebration of the 950th anniversary of Kyiv’s Monastery of the Caves (pictured at right)on 27 and 28 August of this year. This will be an alternative to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate’s plans to mark the event. The Synod also considered some other important issues: an appeal to the Third Worldwide Forum of Ukrainians and to President Kuchma and the ongoing discussions about the creation of a single Particular Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The Synod resolved to hold its celebration of the anniversary of the Monastery of the Caves in the church of St. Michael of the Golden Domes in Kyiv. Representatives of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church have been officially invited to the ceremonies. Metropolitan Andriy (Horak) of Lviv and Sokal, a permanent member of the Holy Synod, commented: “We consider that this is a holy place for the whole Ukrainian nation and so the anniversary of this lavra [central monastery] cannot be a holy day for only one Church, that of the Moscow Patriarchate.” The Synod elected an organizing committee for the celebration composed of both religious and laity. Among the committee members are politicians I. Yukhnovskyi and P. Movchan, novelist P. Zahrebelnyi, S. Krolevets, director of the National Monument Kyivan Monastery of the Caves, and former dissident and literary critic I. Dziuba. An academic conference dedicated to the anniversary of the lavra is planned for 27 August. Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexis II has been invited to attend the celebration and a number of organizations in Ukraine are protesting the prospect of a visit of this guest from Moscow. (See previous RISU articles of 16 and 24 July.) The Synod also examined other questions, including the Third Worldwide Forum of Ukrainians. It decided to send a letter to Mykhailo Horyn, head of the Worldwide Ukrainian Coordinating Council, with a request to include Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine (UOC-KP) on the presidium of the Forum.

The Synod appealed to Mr. Horyn to send the Forum’s statement regarding the creation of a Single Particular Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its official recognition to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. A request will also be sent to President Kuchma asking him to help speed up this process. In addition, the Synod heard the report of the delegation on the discussions with the Ecumenical Patriarchate about the creation of a Single Particular Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Synod considers these discussions very necessary, approved the delegation’s work and committed itself to further efforts in this direction.

Materials for this article were taken from the Ukrainian-language website www.kievpatriarch.org.