UOC-MP would not implement the decisions of the Russian Orthodox Church's Synod, restricting its rights

31.12.2020, 09:31

"We have long been canonizing Saints ourselves and composing texts of the divine services for Saints, without the approval of the Russian Orthodox Church. This situation is unlikely to change in the direction of restricting our rights," archpriest Mykolai Danilevych, Deputy Head of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC-MP, said on December 30 in his Telegram channel, commenting on the decision of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church of the MP taken the day before that from now on the liturgical texts of self-governing churches within the Russian Orthodox Church are to be approved by the Moscow Patriarchate.

The respective decision is contained in the journal No. 113 of the Synod meeting.

According to the portal "Credo.Press", archpriest Mykolai Danilevych is convinced that this decision does not concern the UOC-MP, whose status is "higher than the self-governing Church".

At the same time, the Primate of the UOC-MP is a permanent member of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Council of bishops in Moscow in 2017 significantly limited the independence of the Ukrainian Church.

"Of course, it sometimes happens that some decisions of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, which mention the UOC, are interpreted in the same way as our media do. However, the realities of our Church's life are different. The UOC is growing and developing, and it is already difficult, and sometimes impossible, to squeeze back some aspects of its life into the framework of some regulatory documents," the spokesman of the UOC-MP stressed.

Tags: #Mykolay Danylevych #Synod of the ROC