UWC congratulates the Primate and the faithful of the OCU on the third anniversary of issuing the Tomos
According to Ukrinform, the UWC reported this on Facebook.
"On the eve of the Great Feast of the Nativity of Christ, we wish Metropolitan Epifaniy and all the faithful of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine good health, as well as strength and inspiration for further faithful service to God, the Church and Ukraine," the UWC said.
As the OCU reminds the chronology of those historical events, on January 4, 2019, a Tomos on granting autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, made on parchment in the ancient style by hieromonk Luka, a world-famous iconographer and calligrapher, was brought to Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey). Tomos is a church canonical document, statement, or decree.
On January 5, 2019, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew signed this historic document. "The pious Ukrainian people have been waiting for this blessed day for seven centuries," he said after the signing.
On January 6, 2019, the Ecumenical Patriarch officially presented the Tomos on autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church to the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy, and on that day, for the first time, the Eucharistic concelebration of two Primates and hierarchs and clergy of both churches took place.
On Christmas Eve, the Tomos was delivered to Kyiv, and it was presented at the Christmas liturgy in St. Sophia Cathedral. On January 8, the document was returned to Istanbul for signing by members of the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. "Therefore, on January 9, 2019, All 12 members of the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate signed the Tomos, which formally completed the process of issuing a document on obtaining autocephaly by the local Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” the OCU noted.
The World Congress of Ukrainians embraces 20 million Ukrainians in 133 countries of the world. On behalf of the twenty-million-strong Ukrainian diaspora, the UWC has repeatedly called upon the Ecumenical Patriarch to grant the Tomos on autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
