KDAiS rector: Protests against Feofania Council disrespect His Beatitude

UOC Council in Feofania. Photo: Facebook of Archbishop Sylvester

The rector of the Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary, Archbishop Sylvester of Bilohorodka, published a Facebook post addressing the ongoing debate surrounding the Feofania Council.

The archbishop described open discussion as an essential aspect of church freedom and beneficial for the life of the Church, but noted that some statements “bordered on insults and were filled with disrespect toward opponents.” He expressed surprise that certain bishops were calling for public discussion to end and for controversial issues to return to private deliberations within a narrow circle of church leadership.

Archbishop Sylvester noted that the debate revealed sharply different evaluations of the Feofaniya Council. “I was surprised to hear that this was not a council but some kind of ‘event in Feofania’. Such an openly dismissive attitude toward a gathering of bishops, clergy, monastics, and laity is deeply saddening,” he wrote.

The archbishop emphasized that those who oppose the decisions of the Feofaniya Council are, above all, showing direct disrespect to the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry. “To claim that this Council was ‘not free’ or that it was supposedly held ‘with a gun to our heads’ means to make direct accusations against His Beatitude. It was he who initiated the convening of the Council in Feofania, he who presided over it, and therefore he was the guarantor of its free and open work,” Archbishop Sylvester said.

He reminded readers that everyone at the Council had complete freedom to speak: “I well remember that those who now dismissively call it an ‘event in Feofania’ were actively speaking at the Council – more than once – and freely expressed everything they wished to say. Therefore, statements about the ‘lack of freedom’ at the Council do not correspond to reality in any way.”

The rector of KDAiS drew attention to the contradiction between the position of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry and that of certain bishops regarding the canonical status of the UOC after the Feofania Council. “On the one hand, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry clearly stated: ‘Since May 27, 2022, we are no longer part of the Moscow Patriarchate. The Council firmly declared our Church’s aspiration for full canonical independence. At present, we already possess all the attributes of such independence,’” the archbishop quoted.

“But on the other hand, some bishops claim that we still remain part of the Moscow Patriarchate; that we merely changed the commemoration formula for tactical reasons; that the consecration of holy chrism was a mistake; and that the Feofania Council must still be reviewed by a Local Council of the Moscow Patriarchate,” Archbishop Sylvester noted. According to him, such assertions directly contradict the assessment of the Council expressed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry in his official address to the faithful in May 2025 and in several other speeches and statements.

The archbishop expressed satisfaction that in response to disparaging assessments of the Feofania Council, numerous hierarchs and clergy of the UOC who personally attended the gathering have borne witness to its freedom. “These testimonies from the bishops support our Primate, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, and his historic decision to convene the Council held on May 27, 2022, in Feofania,” the hierarch concluded.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that following Metropolitan Theodosiy’s claim that the Feofaniya Council had not been free, a number of UOC bishops issued statements disagreeing with the Cherkasy hierarch’s assertions.

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