UOC-MP perceives us as a seeker and junior partner, Archbishop Yevstratiy of the Kyiv Ukrainian Orthodox Patriarchate on dialogue

10 July 2014

The dialogue on the merger of the two churches is hampered because the UOC-Moscow Patriarchate does not perceive the Kyiv Patriarchate as an equal partner, but only as a supplicant for dialogue, which in itself is a ‘favour’ done by the ‘canonical Church’.  This opinion was expressed by Archbishop Yevstratiy (Zorya) of Chernihiv and Nizhyn of the UOC-KP


“If you remember, a year ago the amendments were introduced into the Statute of the UOC-Kyivan Patriarchate, which, among the other things, abolished a maximum period wherein the Patriarch’s election shall be held”, he writes. These changes, as explained by the Archbishop, were made in order to elect a candidate agreed with the UOC-MP following negotiations on unification.


“So, I have not heard from my brothers of the UOC-MP any equivalent notion that “we might hold negotiations with the UOC-KP first and then choose our Primate”. Our Statute envisages the desire for unity and a mechanism to implement this desire. But the majority on the fraternal side at the UOC-MP has plunged in the last round of elections”, Bishop Yevstratiy deplored.


The Archbishop said that the UOC-MP clergy have been demanding that Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv left the throne of Kyiv in order for there to be successful negotiations. “But those who demand his resignation, do not intend likewise giving up the post of the Primate of the UOC-MP, to which they (or their employer) have not even been elected yet ...,” said the hierarch.


“The main problem in the dialogue, in my opinion, is that our brothers still perceive the Kyiv Patriarchate as the supplicant and junior partner in the dialogue, which would be seen as a "favour" done by the canonical Church. “Thus they see they have every justification to communicate with UAOC Metropolitan Methodius, who is their long-time ally in the fight against the Kyiv Patriarchate, and certiainly not with us. We see the dialogue exclusively as communication on equal terms. If  in the 1990s we did not accept the language of ultimatums from the Moscow Patriarchate, all the more so  will we not accept it now”, said UOC-KP Archbishop Yevstratiy (Zorya).


UOC-MP perceives us as a seeker and junior partner, Archbishop Yevstratiy on dialogue