UGCC head: Certain processes divided Christians of Ukraine in 16th century

Sviatoslav Shevchuk. Photo: Zhyve Telebachennia

In his Paschal homily at the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv, the head of the UGCC, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, spoke about the history of the division among Ukraine’s Christians.

Shevchuk recalled that the Church on Kyiv’s holy hills remained one until the sixteenth century. Then, as the UGCC head put it, “certain processes” took place, giving rise to two branches of Kyivan Christianity – the Orthodox and the Uniate.

What exactly those “processes” were, the head of the UGCC did not elaborate.

Shevchuk also mentioned that when the Kyiv cathedral was being built, his predecessor, Lubomyr Husar, sought to lay the foundation for the restoration of the unity of the Kyivan Church.

“We also greet our Orthodox brothers on the feast of Christ’s Resurrection and say to them: ‘One Lord, one faith, one baptism,’” Shevchuk said.

Speaking about the schism, the UGCC head noted that “the mysterious nature of Christ’s Church tells us that there are such foundations of our unity that human divisions cannot reach.”

Recall that the Brest Church Union of 1596, as a result of which part of the Orthodox dioceses of the Kyivan Metropolia came under the authority of the Pope of Rome, remains one of the most painful issues in relations between the Orthodox and Greek Catholics.

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