Polish Church: Autocephaly in Ukraine cannot be granted to schismatics

His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa, Primate of the Polish Orthodox Church

The Bishops' Council of the Polish Orthodox Church published an official Statement on the “Ukrainian issue”. The document is posted on the official resource of the Polish Church.

"The Holy Bishops' Council of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church got acquainted with the correspondence on autocephaly in Ukraine, which was obtained from: Constantinople, Alexandria, Russia, Serbia, Romania, Albania, Cyprus, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, the UN Human Rights Council and letters by groups of believers of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church,” the Council’s Statement says.

The Council of Bishops declared that the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church reaffirms its position regarding the church situation in Ukraine, which was expressed in resolutions of May 9, 2018, No. 340 and of November 15, 2018, No. 341.

His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa, the Primate of the Polish Orthodox Church, on behalf of the Council of Bishops, said that his Church has advocated "granting full independence – the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine" (highlighted by the authors of the Statement - Ed.).

At the same time, the hierarchs of the Polish Church under the term “Orthodox Church in Ukraine” mean the form of the administrative structure of the canonical Church, and not the religious group of the OCU, which was newly created with the help of the Phanar.

“The autocephaly of the Church in Ukraine should be based on the dogmatic and canonical norms of the whole Church but not of a group of schismatics. The apostates deprived of priestly ordination cannot represent a healthy church organism. This is a non-canonical act that violates Eucharistic and inter-Orthodox unity. Our believers, the authors of the letter, should be aware of this,” the Statement says.

The document also says that the Polish Church cooperates with other Local Churches in order to regulate the church life in Ukraine. The bishops of the Polish Church call upon all those who care about the unity of Orthodoxy to prayer for God to give this unity to fraternal Ukraine.

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