UOC-KP ready to have talks with ROC in Riga or Vilnus

The Kyivan Patriarchate offers to hold talks with the Russian Orthodox Church Commission on a neutral territory – for example, in Vilnius or Riga.

Archbishop Yevstraty (Zoria) of Chernihiv and Nizhyn, chair of the information department of the Kyiv Patriarchate, said it in an interview with the agency Ukrinform, according to Novynarynaya.

“The Synod of our Church will consider this situation – and the course of communication [with the Russian Orthodox Church], and their initiative to maintain the dialogue. And I think that the relevant commission [of the UOC-KP] will be set up, the place and time of the dialogue will be determined already in coordination with the two commissions,” said Archbishop Yevstratiy.

“In any case, we are unlikely to go to Moscow. During the previous communication, we proposed a neutral place for the meeting where the security of participants and non-interference of external factors in the process is guaranteed. From our side there were thoughts about Vilnius or Riga. Our position was taken into account - that further dialogue will be on a neutral territory,” he added.

On November 30, following the letter by Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine (UOC-KP) to the Bishops’ Council of the ROC, it became known that the Council in Moscow was pleased to accept the appeal of “the former Metropolitan of Kyiv” as a step towards overcoming the split and restoration of the church communication on the part of those who once seceded from the unity with the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”

For further negotiations with the UOC-KP, the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church set a commission consisting of Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokalamsk (head), Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil and Brovary, Metropolitan Feodor of Kamianets-Podilskyi and Horodok, Metropolitan Mitrofan of Luhansk and Alchevsk, archpriest Mikolai Balashov, Archpriest Mykolai Danilevich, archpriest Igor Yakymchuk (secretary).

In the interview with Archbishop Zoria, journalist Lana Samokhvalova noted that “the commission members with whom you will meet at the negotiating table are prominent figures. They are either people deeply involved with the Russian government and its special services, or those members of the UOC who are undoubtedly entrusted to Moscow.” So it's very likely that “they will eat you” or “throw”.

“We are too hard a nut to be cracked with one’s teeth. If we were easy to eat, it would have happened already over these 27 years,” said the spokesman of the UOC-KP.

“Regarding the format of the commission, it is obvious that, just as the Russian Orthodox Church cannot dictate who should be included on our side, we cannot dictate who should be included on their side. This is their sovereign right - to decide who is involved in the dialogue,” said Archbishop Yevstratiy.

“But the only final goal of the dialogue is that, in Ukraine, the local Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate should be recognized by other Churches (the Moscow Patriarchate in our case). Recognition is a prerequisite for the unification of Ukrainian Orthodoxy. If the factor of non-recognition disappears, the grounds for division will disappear too.

If the commission or one of its members intends to pursue a dialogue about other things, our side does not have any consent or mandate for that. And we clearly and explicitly explained this during our preparatory communication,” he added.

Archbishop Yevstratyy noted that the actions of the Russian Orthodox Church can indeed be misleading maneuvers, but in the Russian Church there are indeed people who are inclined to dialogue with the UOC-KP.

“We do not exclude that these proposals (on negotiations) are ambiguous. The history of Moscow's attitude toward Ukraine in general, and the attitude of the Moscow Patriarchate to Kyiv, in particular, gives us reason to doubt and caution about the sincerity of the intentions of all the participants in the proposed dialogue.

However, according to my personal impression and analysis, I see that there are forces that want such a dialogue to actually begin, and there are forces that do not want it and are willing to prevent it. Therefore, the problem is not so much the trust in the Russian Church as a whole, but to understand whether the members of the Russian Orthodox Church, who are conscious to maintain the dialogue, can bring it to an end, whether those forces that are determined to discredit and destroy the Kyiv Patriarchate are to win or not,” said the Archbishop.

At the same time, Kyiv does not rule out participation of a “third party” in such negotiations – “those reputed people who could be mediators and guarantors of dialogue”.

“It's not about being granted autocephaly. It already exists,  it has been proclaimed and approved. We are talking only about recognition. Recognition not only by the Moscow Patriarchate, but also by all of the local Orthodox Churches. In our dialogue with other local Churches, including the Patriarchate of Constantinople, we reiterated this idea.

Obviously, if the Moscow Patriarchate agree on such a scenario, it will be much easier to make a step towards recognition to Constantinople and other local churches.

That is not to say that we expect a gift from Patriarch Kirill and the Russian Orthodox Church in general. We see this as part of the great all-Orthodox process of recognizing the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, if the ROC is ready for this. If it is not ready, then the recognition of our Mother Church – the Church of Constantinople will be sufficient for us,” explained the spokesman of the UOC-KP.

Archbishop Yevstraty admitted that the decision on the letter and the commission was preceded by two meetings of the representatives of the Kyiv Patriarchate in Moscow with the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church - Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, with Archpriest Nikolai Balashov or Archpriest Igor Yakymchuk.

Zoria said: “We are now considering as the first step on the part of the Russian Orthodox the withdrawal of decisions that impede our communication – this is anathematization of our patriarch. The second step is the recognition of our church. And the next step is the implementation of the unification process.”

“We have a compromise path. We are ready to consider the possibility of a certain body of the ROC in Ukraine for those bishops and parishes who categorically disagree to be part of the Ukrainian Church, and remain in the Russian church and are ready to eliminate the hostile attitude towards the KP, but just as the Russian Orthodox Church. Just as the Russian Orthodox Church recognized the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church in America, but preserved the right of patriarchal parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church to operate there,” Archbishop Yevstratiy explained.

He also commented on whether Patriarch Filaret could stretch a hand for reconciliation to people who, for decades, destroyed his reputation.

“Yes, this is an outstretched hand to the Russian Orthodox Church, with the desire that this Church find a way out of a closed circle, in which it has locked itself with its decisions about us over the past two and a half decades,” said the spokesman of the UOC-KP.