UOC DECR head: At the Council there was an atmosphere of healthy discussion
Despite the diversity of views, the unity of the bishops at the session of the Council at the Lavra was obvious, Metropolitan Mitrofan said.
The atmosphere at the Council was healthy; the discussions were free, open, even sometimes heated. On November 14, the head of the UOC DECR Metropolitan Mitrofan of Lugansk and Alchevsk said in an interview with the Information and Education Department of the UOC.
Vladyka Mitrofan also commented on the words of Metropolitan Sophrony that the bishops who participated in the Council allegedly sat quietly and were afraid to say a word.
“Saying this, Vladyka Sofrony is not completely honest,” the hierarch noted. “Nobody interfered with anyone and refused to express their point of view. It is no secret that Metropolitan Sophrony has his position, which he has repeatedly voiced. No one said not to talk or interrupted either him or all other participants in the Council. And Vladyka Sophrony says everything that he thinks with his typical emotionality. Metropolitan Simeon of Vinnitsa and Bar, who also has his point of view on everything that is happening, also expressed his opinion. ”
Metropolitan Mitrofan stressed that the discussion was quite open and resulted in the Resolution of the Council signed by almost all (except for one) bishops of the UOC.
“The hierarchs have been talking about holding such a Council for quite some time, given the events that are happening today in our state, in our society and in our Church. The opinion of our episcopate formed in council is very important, and we hope that it will be considered,” the UOC hierarch noted.
Metropolitan Mitrofan also explained that, according to the Statute of the UOC, the Primate of the UOC initiates the convocation of the Council, and the Holy Synod makes the appropriate decision.
“It is quite logical that we took advantage of the occasion that almost the entire episcopate was in Kiev and held a Council, the convocation of which, as I have repeatedly said, had been talked about for a long time. We have the right to convene both emergency Councils and pre-planned Councils. There is nothing surprising, nothing that goes beyond any limits of the church tradition and the Statute of our Church,” said the UOC DECR head.
As the UOJ reported, the Council of Bishops of the UOC, which took place on November 13 at the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, made a statement regarding the meeting with Petro Poroshenko: the bishops of the UOC confirmed their readiness to meet with the President of Ukraine, but in the church territory. The President did not come to the meeting.
