Met. Ephraim: The UOC Council was held without any pressure on participants

Council of the UOC 2022. Photo: press service of the Kryvyi Rih Diocese

Metropolitan Ephraim of Kryvyi Rih and Nikopol issued a statement concerning the circumstances of the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which took place in Feofania on May 27, 2022.

The Metropolitan emphasized that the Council was convened by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine, in full accordance with the Statute of the UOC, according to which the Church Council is the highest governing body of ecclesiastical authority and administration.

“It is particularly important that the initiative to convene the Council did not come from behind-the-scenes influence by secular authorities, but from among the episcopate, clergy, and laity who deeply felt the need for changes in church life,” the hierarch stated.

He noted that each eparchy of the UOC was represented by its own delegates – archpastors, clergy, and lay believers. According to him, this made the decisions of the Council catholic (soborny), bearing the voice of the Church’s full body.

Metropolitan Ephraim particularly emphasized that all the Council’s decisions were made without any pressure on its participants from state officials or law enforcement bodies.

“Every attendee had the opportunity to take their own personal position and express their opinion on the pressing issues,” he said.

The hierarch reminded that all resolutions of the May 27, 2022 Council are binding for all members of the Church.

“Any new interpretations of the Council’s actions, in my opinion, only destabilize the situation within the Church and cause temptation among the faithful,” Metropolitan Ephraim declared.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that, according to Metropolitan Nikodim of Zhytomyr, the UOC Council was held in prayerful unity.

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