Vice-Rector of KDAiS tells when UOC Councils were held
Candidate of Theological Sciences V. Bureha noted that the frequency of holding "big" Councils isn't regulated by the UOC Statute; they were convened as needed.
The Statute of the UOC does not use the term "Local Council", it speaks about a Council of bishops, priests, monastics and laity and does not regulate the frequency of the council, says the Vice-Rector of the Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary (KDAiS) Vladimir Bureha, answering questions of the Russian theologian Sergey Chapnin on the YouTube channel "Sobornost" (‘Catholicity”).
According to Professor Bureha, such councils were held four times during the modern history of the UOC, and they were always necessitated by the need to change church life.
The first "big" Council of the UOC was held in 1990 when the first Primate was elected.
In 1992, at the same Council, Filaret Denisenko was deposed and Metropolitan Vladimir (Sabodan) was elected.
"Not many people remember the Council of 1997. The question of autocephaly was discussed there, but its participants came to the conclusion that the current status of the UOC is quite satisfactory to all," the theologian said.
The Council of 2011 approved the wording of the Statute of the UOC of 2007, according to which the Church has lived and operated until 2022.
"Thus, such Councils gathered at large intervals about once every 10 years, when something extraordinary happened in the life of the Church," said Vladimir Bureha.
As reported, the Council held on 27 May 2022 declared full independence of the UOC.
