At the session of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church presided over by His Beatitude Metropolitan Volodymyr of Kyiv and All Ukraine the "Address of the Local Council of the UAOC
to the Local Council of the UOC" of November 27, 2007 was considered. Resolution was made
to send the following response of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church to the "Address
of the Local Council of the UOAC to the Local Council of the UOC" of November
27, 2007:
"The Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, having taken into
account the expert evaluation of the Address, made by the Theological Canonical
Commission, has to specify in response the following. The desire of the UAOC to
continue the dialogue with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church aiming at restoration
of unity of the Ukrainian Orthodoxy is highly commendable.
As the documents and statements of the UAOC passed throughout 2006-2008 testify there is a clear tendency in
the UAOC for the search of agreement with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on
ecclesiological and canonical issues.
In particular, denouncement of ethnophyletism as a false principle of
organisation ecclesiastic life organisation of the Local Church deserves the
best approval possible, as well as the desire of the UAOC to conduct the
dialogue regarding
restoration of the church unity "proceeding from the principles of Christian
love, sincerity, mutual respect and loyalty to the canonical Tradition of the
Orthodoxy" (Statement of the Bishops' Council of the UAOC on reunification of
the Ukrainian Orthodoxy "
of August 15, 2006). Of special significance is the view of
the UAOC of the ways of
obtaining the proper canonical status of the Local Church: "we realize that
obtaining the proper canonical status by the Local Church must be effected in
accordance with canonical tradition of the Orthodoxy, at the same time the
God-commanded unity between the Churches in the Eucharist communion" ("Statement of the Council of
Bishops of the UAOC on the problem of reunification of the Ukrainian Orthodoxy"
of August 15, 2006).
At the same time we should pay attention to the fact that change of the
canonical status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is possible exclusively on
condition of unanimity of opinion on that issue among the episcopacy, clergy
and laity. Instead, in
our Church today various ideas of her future coexist. Besides, change of the status of the UOC
cannot take effect without agreement of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
and other Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches. The problem becomes even more complicated
since in the Universal Orthodoxy there is no agreement on the procedure of
proclaiming autocephaly, since a number of Churches believes that it is a
prerogative of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and other Churches insist that
this question is in the competence of the kyriarchal church by the consent of
the other Local Churches.
As it was rightly noted in the "Statement": "Autocephaly is not the way of
separation of one local church from another. On the contrary, it allows a local
church fulfil its local mission in the world preserving the unity of the One Holy
Catholic Apostolic
Church". However, the
history of the Church testifies that autocephaly can both unite and divide the
nations and the churches -depending on the given church and historical context.
As modern French Orthodox theologian Olivier
Clement believes, "autocephaly focused upon itself caused lots of harm to the
Orthodox Church".
So it is not surprising that a considerable part of the clergy and laity of our
Church treats negatively the idea of autocephaly, discerning there a threat for
the prayerful and spiritual unity with the Russian Orthodox Church. The
standpoint of the Hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is logical and consistent
in this aspect. The Primate and the
episcopacy of our Church sincerely strive for overcoming the schism, however,
they reject the ways and models of reunification of the Ukrainian Orthodoxy
that may cause new dissents or destroy the Eucharistic and prayerful unity of
the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with the Universal Orthodoxy.
At the same time the present status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is
actually analogous to the complex of canonical rights of an autocephalous Church. "The Ukrainian Orthodox Church now has the
same canonical rights as any local Orthodox Church. Moreover, comparative
analysis of the canonical rights of the Ukrainian
Church, which is a self-governed
Church in composition of the Moscow Patriarchate, and of the rights of the
autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church, shows that our actual rights are even
wider than those the autocephalous Church of Greece possesses now. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church resolves
independently most of the church questions, and its canonical dependence on the
Russian Orthodox Church manifests itself only in the prayerful mentioning of
the Patriarch at the Divine Liturgy, and in the Patriarch's blessing of the
primate of the UOC chosen by her Council." (Ukrainian Orthodox Church: Present and
Perspectives. Speech of the Primate in the Christian
Theological Academy in Warsaw). Summing up all the abovesaid, the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church thinks it necessary to continue the dialogue on restoration of unity of
the Ukrainian Orthodoxy, having separated at the present stage the problem of improvement
of the existing canonical status of the UOC and from the problem of overcoming
the schism.
Journal № 49
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