MP Pavlenko: There cannot be another Church in Ukraine besides the OCU

Rostyslav Pavlenko. Photo: Ukrainian News

Rostyslav Pavlenko, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament from the European Solidarity party, stated that even if the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) severs ties with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), it will not be able to operate in Ukraine unless it joins the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), according to Ukrainian News.

He emphasized that after the Tomos of Autocephaly was granted to the OCU by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, any parallel Orthodox jurisdictions in Ukraine are only possible with the consent of the OCU.

"The Ecumenical Patriarch has repeatedly stated, including in 2020 in response to a well-known journalists' inquiry, that the current episcopate of the UOC-MP is considered titular clergy. This means they are clergy with a certain title but do not lead the corresponding dioceses and parishes. In other words, they are priests, they are hierarchs, but their association is not a church. The UOC-MP is not listed in the diptychs – the list of autocephalous Orthodox churches unlike the OCU after receiving the Tomos. After the Tomos, there cannot be another Orthodox Church on the territory of Ukraine besides the OCU," Pavlenko noted.

Pavlenko also expressed his belief that if the UOC is banned, its representatives will not be able to establish a new Orthodox jurisdiction in Ukraine without the approval of the OCU. He argued that the existence of a parallel Orthodox jurisdiction alongside the OCU contradicts church canons.

The MP stated that the Orthodox world is governed by the canons and decisions of the Ecumenical Councils, which form a hierarchical system of canonical law, and added that the Tomos of Autocephaly for the OCU is the cornerstone for the Orthodox world in Ukraine.

As previously reported by the UOJ, the head of the Rada committee, Mykyta Poturaev, outlined the demands on the UOC in light of the new bill.

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