UOC KP names conditions under which they will commemorate Russian Patriarch
The “synod” of UOC KP has called on the Russian Orthodox Church to reconsider the “groundless decisions” on the cessation of Eucharistic communion with Constantinople.
At the meeting of the “synod” of the Kiev Patriarchate, which took place on October 20, it was decided that the commemoration of the name of the Moscow Patriarch would be possible for them after the Russian Orthodox Church accepted the synodal decisions of the Constantinople Patriarchate of October 9-11, 2018. The corresponding decision was published on the UOC KP website.
The Kiev Patriarchate called for a review of the decisions of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on breaking the Eucharistic communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople and said that they saw “no obstacles for the Eucharistic and prayerful communion with the episcopate, clergy and believers of the autocephalous local Russian Orthodox Church, as well as with the fullness of Orthodoxy”.
Also, the decision of the “synod” emphasizes that “those hierarchs, clergy and laity who wish, despite all the circumstances, to submit to the Moscow Patriarchate in the future, have the right to do so. The Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine will coexist on an equal footing with all other Churches and religious organizations, as guaranteed by the Constitution and the laws of our state and international law”.
We recall that on October 11, 2018, the Synod of the Constantinople Patriarchate announced the decision to return the canonical status to the UOC KP and the UAOC and lifted the anathema imposed on their leaders in the 1990s with the consent of the primates of all Local Churches. As Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia noted, “the Patriarchate of Constantinople identified itself with the schismatics. Uncanonically, breaking all the rules, it invaded our jurisdiction and forgave the schismatics. So, identifying itself with the schismatics, it itself became schismatic.”
