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18.07.2008, [12:17] // UOC-KP // RISU.ORG.UA

Kyiv— “On the whole we positively assess the response we have received.” So Bishop Yevstratii (Zoria) of Vasylkyivskyi, head of the Information-Publishing Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP), commented on the 16 July statement of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) as to its position regarding the UOC-KP. uaorthodox.info posted the news on 17 July 2008.

“We are aware,” said Bishop Yevstratii, “that this response is the fruit of compromise within the walls of the church of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine itself. This very fact of a response witnesses to essential movement in the position of the UOC-MP about the possibility of dialogue with the Kyivan Patriarchate. For in previous propositions from this church they responded to us that, in the better instance, there is only one [proposition]: they are waiting for us to repent, and there will be no dialogue with us. Today’s response is more pragmatic and better corresponds to the realities of today.”

“At the same time, rather unfortunate is the fact that this response appeared seven months after the address from our church was approved. If we will wait a half year for each of our proposals, dialogue between our churches threatens to drag on for decades,” said the bishop.

He also said that it is an unfortunate fact that in the UOC-MP’s response a number of “common phrases” taken from the rhetoric of previous years are again repeated. “This relates especially to repeated attacks on the person of the head of our church. It is certain that history and universal Orthodoxy will witness that His Holiness [Patriarch] Filaret [Denysenko, head of the UOC-KP] is not a schismatic, but the builder of a single national church. The hierarchs of the UOC-MP, finally, will be convinced of the incorrectness of their position regarding him.”

”We understand that the leadership of the UOC-MP today is as if caught between two fires. On the one hand, the pressure of Moscow, and on the other, the understanding of Ukrainian realities. So we highly appreciate the act of Metropolitan Volodymyr [Sabodan, head of the UOC-MP], who last year dared for the first time to accept in his residence representatives of our church, and by this, not only by words but more in deeds, showed his desire to see a single Orthodox church in Ukraine. So we also appreciate this response, as a door for leading in the search for church unity. We hope that communication between the representatives of our churches will continue, in an informal and also, perhaps, on a formal level. I am certain that in some way or other our churches will come to full-fledged and constructive dialogue which will have as a result a single Ukrainian church. And if the position of Moscow obstructs such dialogue and union, we will look for ways to go around this obstacle,” Bishop Yevstratii concluded.

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