Representatives of OCU and UGCC hold “interfaith memorial service” in Kaniv

Representatives of the OCU and UGCC at the memorial service in Kaniv. Photo: ugcc.ua

On May 22, 2025, an event described as an “interfaith memorial service” took place in Kaniv on Chernecha Hill, led by Epifaniy Dumenko, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).

According to the organizers, the joint prayer included not only clergy of the OCU but also priests of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), all praying together with Dumenko for the repose of the soul of Taras Shevchenko.

It is worth noting that UGCC representatives stood in their epitrachelia both at the memorial service and during the prayer in the cathedral.

On the same day, the ancient Dormition Cathedral – once the center of the Kaniv Archimandrite in the 16th–18th centuries and administered in the 19th century by the Basilian Order (a Greek Catholic monastic community) – was officially reopened.

An “interfaith prayer for peace in Ukraine” was also held in the restored cathedral, with participants from various denominations, including representatives of the UGCC.

On the occasion of the cathedral’s reopening, Fr. Ihor Kotenko, pastor of the UGCC parish in Kaniv, emphasized the Dormition Cathedral’s importance for Ukraine’s spiritual unity.

“This cathedral – the Dormition Cathedral – is, by God’s grace, now renewed and reopened. It is not only its architecture that has been revived, but also its role as a national shrine, destined to become a place of meeting, dialogue, and future Church unity,” the priest told the UGCC’s Information Department.

He also highlighted the cathedral’s historical significance, noting that it had served both Orthodox and Greek Catholics at different times, but had always remained a Ukrainian church.

Fr. Kotenko expressed hope that the cathedral would become a unique place for fostering the spiritual unity of the Ukrainian people. Quoting Taras Shevchenko – “Grant us like-mindedness and send us brotherly love…” – the Greek Catholic priest called for fraternal love and unity among Ukrainian Christians, stressing that “without like-mindedness there is no progress, and without brotherly love there is no Church of Christ.”

Earlier, the UOJ reported that representatives of the OCU, UGCC, and Roman Catholic Church gathered for an ecumenical conference in Odesa.

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