01.09.2009, [20:55] // UAOC // risu.org.ua
KYIV — On August 26, 2009, took place the Hierarchal Synod of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) under the leadership of the head of the UAOC Metropolitan Mefodiy (Kudryakov) along with ten hierarchs of the church. The subject of the synod was the church-confessional situation in Ukraine, which formed after the visit of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus. The hierarchs composed an appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and discussed the future paths of the development of the UAOC. RISU's Ukrainian-language webpage posted this story on August 27, 2009.
The appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarchate states that the church division in Ukraine occurred as a “result of the crisis of the church consciousness, which departed from the ideal of Christian Universalism.”
The episcopate of the UAOC asks the Ecumenical Patriarch “not just to pray for the recovery of the division in Ukraine, but also to give us medication which can heal the wounds on the body of the Ukrainian Church.” As the text of the appeal attests, from such “medication” they can receive two things; first of all, the beneficial influence of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the formation of a new, more universal, church consciousness in Ukraine and secondly, Patriarch Bartholomew’s blessing for the UAOC to come under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate with rights of autonomy.
“We call the Ecumenical Patriarchate,” write the hierarchs of the UAOC, “to develop and realize a complete theological-church program, which aims is to consolidate church consciousness in Ukraine. In our opinion, to improve the health of the church consciousness the following are extremely urgent:
• the involvement of leading theologians of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in solving the Ukrainian Church problem;
• the collaboration of theologians of the Ecumenical Patriarchate with leading humanitarian and theological schools in Ukraine;
• the introduction of publishing program which would have the goal of familiarizing Ukrainian Orthodox Christians with the achievements of the theological thought of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, especially, in the fields of ecclesiology, canonical law, and history of the Ecumenical Patriarchate;
• the participation of representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in educational events in Ukraine and a deeper involvement of leading representatives of Orthodox academic work of Ukraine in education and other events that are directed by the initiation or assistance of the Ecumenical Patriarchate;
• the opening in Kyiv of a branch or informational-cultural center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
On the other hand, the episcopate of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church once more witnesses in front of the face of the Mother of the Church, which for the sake of departing from artificial canonical isolation and renewing communion with the ecumenical Orthodoxy, our church is ready and strives to come under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate with rights of autonomy.”