UOC in USA holds off joining Local Church-to-be in Ukraine
Unification is possible if the Church in Ukraine goes beyond the framework of political processes.
The UOC in the US will continue to be in the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, even if the Tomos on autocephaly is granted to the Ukrainian Church. This was said in an interview with the Voice of America by the First Hierarch of the UOC in the US, Metropolitan Anthony (Shcherba) of Hierapolis.
At the same time, the Metropolitan does not rule out that in the future the situation might change.
"Most likely, the UOC in the US will remain under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate," said Metropolitan Anthony. “I do not mean to say this will never happen. Perhaps, this will happen when the newly formed Church in Ukraine reaches a certain maturity and starts functioning outside the framework of political processes and personal ambitions or interests."
Also, the First Hierarch of the UOC in the United States stressed that Tomos-granting is a long process.
"This issue is still under consideration in Constantinople," said Metropolitan Anthony. “Poroshenko returned from Istanbul after his meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew with slightly exaggerated enthusiasm <...> Nothing in the Byzantine world moves so fast."
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America was founded by Ukrainian emigrants who arrived in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. The UOC in America did not receive the canonical status until March 1995, when Patriarch Bartholomew I confirmed the acceptance of all Orthodox Ukrainians in the diaspora under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. At the same time, Constantinople forbade the Ukrainian hierarchs in America to have any relations with the schismatic Ukrainian groups that stand outside the fullness of the Orthodox Church.
