Archbishop Theodosy: Istanbul Synod drafts a religious map of Ukraine

Archbishop Theodosy of Boyarka

“By the decision of the Istanbul Synod, in my view, a religious map of Ukraine is being finalized for the near future,” said Bishop Theodosy on the channel 112.

According to him, as a result of Constantinople’s actions, Ukraine will have the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has 12,600 church communities, and alongside a religious organization controlled by the Phanar, which will be twice as small. There will be no canonical communion between these jurisdictions. “The canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church will not recognize the canonicity of the second structure,” said the archbishop.

Vladyka Theodosy also pointed out a number of signs that indicate that the new religious organization will not be truly independent. “The newly created church structure in Ukraine will have very few autonomy rights, although it is called an autocephalous Church. But we see that the charter of this structure is written in Istanbul, and not in Kiev. We know that there are a number of requirements from Istanbul, including the one - who they can elect as their leader and who – they can’t,” the bishop said.

On November 29, 2018, the Holy Synod of the Church of Constantinople ended its work.

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