UOC Council names requisites for dialogue with OCU

At the Council of the UOC, which took place on May 27, 2022 in the monastery of Feofania, the hierarchs determined the requisites for a dialogue with the OCU. This was reported by the Information and Education Department of the UOC.

“Being aware of the special responsibility before God, the Council deplores the lack of unity in Ukrainian Orthodoxy. The Council views the schism as a deep painful wound in the church body. It is particularly regrettable that the recent actions of the Patriarch of Constantinople in Ukraine, which resulted in the establishment of the ‘Orthodox Church of Ukraine’, only deepened misunderstandings and led to physical confrontation. But even in these times of crisis, the Council does not lose hope of resuming dialogue,” the statement said following the Council.

According to the document, in order for the dialogue to resume, the OCU is expected to take the following actions:

• stop the seizure of churches and forced transfers of parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church;
• realize that their canonical status, as it is fixed in the "Charter of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine", is in fact non-autocephalous and significantly inferior to the freedoms and opportunities in the implementation of church activities, which are provided for by the Charter on the governance of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church;
• resolve the issue of the canonicity of the OCU hierarchy, because it is quite obvious for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, as well as for the majority of Local Orthodox Churches, that in order to recognize the canonicity of the OCU hierarchy, it is necessary to restore the apostolic succession of its bishops.

Recall that the Council of Bishops declared full independence of the UOC.

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