Shevchuk speaks about the plan to unite UGCC and OCU
Head of the UGCC Sviatoslav Shevchuk on the air of Channel 5. Screenshot: 5.ua
The head of the Greek Catholics of Ukraine Sviatoslav Shevchuk said on the air of the Channel 5 program "Characters" that the UGCC seeks to unite with the OCU, but ostensibly there is no talk of a quick merger yet.
"The year 2021 was marked by information ‘flashes’ that secret negotiations are underway to get the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church united."
“Everything is sincere, open, transparent,” answered the leader of the UGCC. “We do not yet see any opportunities for quick unification, but we see opportunities to unite in some specific business, for the sake of the good of our people and our Ukrainian state.”
According to Sviatoslav Shevchuk, he is for all "Christians to be one."
“We have a definite plan on how to go towards the unification of the once united and now split Kyiv Church,” the leader of the UGCC said.
The host of the “Characters” program, Andrei Kovalev, also touched upon the issue of the Mukachevo diocese in his blitz poll.
“We are looking for the possibility of ‘institutional unification’ with the Mukachevo diocese, because today it does not belong to the structure of the UGCC and has its own history, culture and is a multinational diocese. It is self-governing and does not belong to our structure,” Shevchuk explained.
Recall that the Mukachevo Greek Catholic Diocese is a self-governing (sui juris) structure from among the Ruthenian Greek Catholic churches (the collective name for a group of self-governing Eastern Catholic churches that historically unite Greek Catholics from among the Ruthenians and adhere to the Byzantine rite – Ed.), which is independent of the UGCC and reports directly to the Vatican. At the same time, the head of the Mukachevo Uniates does not support the union with the UGCC.
As the UOJ reported, Sviatoslav Shevchuk called Phanar the Mother Church for the Uniates.
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