UPTs THINKS THAT CONSTANTINOPLE'S RECOGNITION OF THE UNION OF UPTsKP AND UAPTs WILL LEAD TO SPLIT OF WORLD ORTHODOXY
If the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church unite, this will not lead to a single local church in the full sense of the word. This is stated by the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, UNIAN-religion reports, with a reference to the Center of Information of UPTs.
"After all, our church will not be there. UPTsKP and UAPTs are churches that are not recognized by world Orthodoxy. Several of their representatives say that in the event of the unification, the Constantinople patriarchate will recognize them. But this is impossible," the UPTs archpriest notes. He said that if Constantinople takes such steps this will engender a division among all 15 local Orthodox churches in the world.
"For example, just as the member states of the European Union do not have the right to have any ties with states upon which an international embargo has been laid, so in the church space the situation is impossible where one patriarchate recognizes some newly-formed church and the others do not recognize it," the priest explains.
He cites the example of the American Orthodox Church as a special case in which some consider it completely independent, that is, autocephalous, and others consider it autonomous, that is, semi-independent. "But this church is canonical and it is recognized by all local Orthodox churches. The question is only about its status—is it completely independent or autonomous," Father Nikolai notes.
We recall that on 9 June in a broadcast on 5 Channel, the press secretary of the Kiev patriarchate, Evstraty Zoria, stated that after the unification of UPTsKP and UAPTs, the new church formation will be recognized by the Constantinople patriarchate. (tr. by PDS, posted 11 June 2015)
UPTsMP HAS DECIDED THAT UNION OF UAPTs AND KIEV PATRIARCHATE WILL LEAD ONLY TO QUARREL
The possible unification of UAPTs and UPTsKP will lead only to quarrels, since local Orthodox churches still will not recognize the decision of churches that they consider to be schismatic, the head of the press service of UPTsMP, Vasily Anisimov, told RIA Novosti.
Yesterday, a session of the commissions of UAPTs and UPTsKP was held, at which a decision was adopted "to unite quickly into a single local Ukrainian Orthodox church," for which a Unification Sobor of the two churches will be convened on 14 September 2015. The concluding document of the commission emphasized that representatives of the Constantinople patriarchate attended the session in the capacity of observers.
"They (UAPTs and UPTsKP—ed.) have already many times tried to unite. I think even if they agree this time, this will not lead to any good. Moreover, this will not lead to unity in world Orthodoxy, for which they are striving so strongly," Anisimov said.
The news agency's interlocutor noted that even if UAPTs and UPTsKP manage to agree concerning unification, they will start asking Constantinople to recognize them as a local church, which will lead only to quarrels. He said, UPTsMP, the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Constantinople patriarchate have often called the "schismatics" to return to the bosom of the canonical church. (tr. by PDS, posted 11 June 2015)
PETRUSHKO:
UPTsKP WANTS TO SWALLOW UAPTs, NOT UNITE WITH IT
Vladislav
Petrushko, a doctor of church history and kandidat of theology,
told RIA
Novosti that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev
patriarchate wants not
to unite with the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, but
to swallow it
and to place its leader as the head, the so-called Patriarch
Filaret.
Today three
Orthodox structures operate in Ukraine, of which only one, the
UPTs of the
Moscow patriarchate, is canonical and recognized by all local
Orthodox churches
of the world. Two others, UPTsKP and UAPTs, with the support of
political
authorities, for more than two decades have been demanding their
legitimacy be
recognized. Last week the primate of the UPTsMP, Metropolitan of
Kiev and all
Ukraine Onufrey, suggested to representatives of UAPTs to renew
the dialogue
for restoring unity among Orthodox Christians of Ukraine.
However the
autocephalous church took the path to unification with UPTsKP.
Yesterday a
session of commissions of the UAPTs and UPTsKP was held, at
which the decision
was adopted "to unite quickly into a single local Ukrainian
Orthodox
church," for which on 14 September 2015 a Unification Sobor of
the two
organizations will be convened. The concluding document of the
commission
emphasized that representatives of the Constantinople
patriarchate attended the
session in the capacity of observers.
"On 4 June
the UAPTs chose its new primate, and this says that the church
intends for a
rather long time yet to exist independently. If one believes the
Kiev
patriarchate, they are about ready to unify in September. If
that were the
case, then the UAPTs would not have chosen a first hierarch for
itself,"
Petrushko said.
He said that
information about the imminent unification was spread by
representatives of the
so-called Kiev patriarchate, a church which "for a long time has
been
noted for use of not the most honest approaches." In addition,
UPTsKP has
already issued a statement that the new structure should be
headed by Filaret
Denisenko, and in this case the union of the two churches that
are not
recognized by world Orthodoxy "will be not a unification but a
swallowing." Petrushko also called attention to the fact that
Filaret is a
"wheeler-dealer and a politician," while the UAPTs tries to stay
outside of politics.
The news
agency's interlocutor noted that Kievan authorities are
interested in the
merger of the schismatic churches, since this will permit
strengthening the
position of the "national" church in opposition to the canonical
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow patriarchate.
Petrushko is
also convinced that the Constantinople Orthodox Church is
interested in the unification
of UAPTs and UPTsKP because its first hierarch, Patriarch
Bartholomew, wants to
strengthen its position in the region and to weaken the Russian
Orthodox
Church. In addition, the primate of the Constantinople Orthodox
Church
stubbornly insists that he is the head of the Mother-Church, and
that means he
can make decisions without taking into account the opinion of
local Orthodox
churches.
At the same
time, the expert noted that in the prelude to the Pan-Orthodox
Sobor of 2016,
negotiations for which have been conducted for more than 50
years now, the
contradictions between the Russian Orthodox Church and the
Constantinople
Orthodox Church have still not been so clearly expressed. (tr.
by PDS, posted
12 June 2015)
UKRAINIAN
SCHISMATICS WANT TO UNITE IN "LOCAL CHURCH"
Interfax-Religiia,
9
June 2015
Two structures
that are not recognized in the Orthodox world, the so-called
"Kiev
patriarchate" and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church,
intend to
convene a unification sobor on 14 September.
"To place on record that the UAPTs,
in accordance with
decisions of the 5th local sobor (4-5 June 2015), and the
UPTsKP, in accordance
with decisions of the Holy Synod (12 May 2015), intend and
desire in the near
future to unite into a single local Orthodox Ukrainian church.
To recognize
that, in accordance with the canonical norms, the charters of
both churches,
and the legislation of Ukraine, the fulfillment of the desire to
unite is
possible only at a joint Unification Sobor," the concluding
decision of
the joint session of commissions of UPTsKP and UAPTs, published
on the website
of UPTsKP, says.
It is expected
that the sobor will be
held in Holy Wisdom cathedral of Kiev. Decisions on all
questions will be
adopted by majority of votes.
It is
suggested that a final decision
on the question of conducting the sobor be made before 30 June.
Earlier, the
head of UPTsKP, Filaret
Denisenko, declared that his organization has not agreed to a
change in the
name and to the reelection of a primate in the event of
unification with the
UAPTs. (tr. by PDS, posted 12 June 2015)
HOW UKRAINIAN CHURCHES ARE UNITING: THE FIRST AGREEMENT
Unification Sobor of UPTsKP and UAPTs will be held in Kiev on 14 September
by Vitaly Chervonenko
B.B.C., 9 June 2015
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev patriarchate (UPTsKP), with the participation of representatives of the Constantinople patriarch, jointly with the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAPTs) agreed to conduct a unification sobor in Kiev on 14 September.
Such a decision was adopted in the evening of 8 June at a session of a joint commission of the churches in the St. Michael's cathedral of the Ukrainian capital.
Negotiations regarding unification were revived after the death in February 2015 of the previous UAPTs head, Mefody, and the election of Makary as the new head of the church.
The UPTsKP and UAPTs represent a substantial portion of Orthodox believers of Ukraine, although they are not recognized by the Orthodox churches of the world.
In the event of unification, there will appear for the UPTsKP and UAPTs the possibility of their recognition on the part of the ecumenical patriarch in Constantinople.
One of the largest Orthodox churches of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow patriarchate, is subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church and is not participating in the process of unification.
The UPTs of the Moscow patriarchate considers the UPTs of the Kiev patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church to be uncanonical churches.
Guests from across the ocean
The document about the future unification contains the signatures of representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada, Illarion, and in the USA, Daniil, which are subordinate to the Constantinople patriarch. Their participation in the adoption of the decision regarding unification is especially emphasized in the preamble to the signed document.
"In contrast to previous attempts at unification, now the Constantinople patriarchate is participating in the dialogue in the person of its official representatives. Constantinople is involved in the process. This is a sign that in the event of success, the patriarch will have a basis for taking steps that we expect," a participant in the negotiations from the UPTsKP side, Father Evstraty, told the B.B.C. Ukrainian service.
He noted that representatives of Constantinople did not make any promises, although the church expects that in the event of unification, the ecumenical patriarch may recognize the local Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Although the signatories themselves do not rule out that the unification sobor may be scuttled. "Considering previous experience and possible external influences aimed at preventing unification, and political and ecclesiastical Moscow is interested in this, I suppose that there may be obstacles so that the unification sobor does not take place," Father Evstraty says.
Conditions of unification
According to the signed agreement, the decision for unification should be made by a special council on 14 September 2015. At it, a leader for the united church should be elected and its name determined.
On the question of the election of a head of the united church there still are two approaches.
The first is that the head of the UPTsKP, Filaret, should become the head of the church and the recently elected head of UAPTs, Makary, will join the holy synod of the unified church as a permanent member.
The position of the UAPTs is that all candidates should be presented to the council and the delegates will be able to determine the primate.
There also are different interpretations regarding the name of the united church.
The UPTsKP insists on retaining its name for the united church with the possibility that the UAPTs may retain its historical name in individual parishes and dioceses.
However the UAPTs proposes that the united church be called "The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, Kiev patriarchate."
Father Evstraty explained to the B.B.C. Ukrainian service that a change in name entails for the UPTsKP enormous administrative problems and costs, and therefore they will insist on retaining their name.
Who will decide
According to preliminary calculations, the UPTsKP will have a quantitative advantage in delegates over the UAPTs at the sobor. The agreement says that the delegates will be all bishops of both churches and also one representative for each 15 registered parishes, as of 1 January 2015.
The UPTsKP now has four times as many parishes as its partners in the merger.The Ministry of Culture told the B.B.C. Ukrainian service that as of 1 January, there were 4877 registered UPTsKP parishes and 1225 UAPTs parishes. While the UPTs of the Moscow patriarchate has 12,515 parishes, and therefore even the united church will formally have half as many as UPTsMP. In terms of number of parishioners, according to the latest data of sociological studies it is the UPTsKP that has the largest church in Ukraine. In April, 44% of Ukrainians identified themselves with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev patriarchate, 21% called themselves parishioners of the UPTs of the Moscow patriarchate, and almost 2% of the population called themselves adherents of UAPTs. (tr. by PDS, posted 12 June 2015)
Russian original posted on Portal-credo.ru site, 10 June 2015
PROSPECT FOR UNIFICATION OF UPTsKP AND UAPTs TENUOUS—BISHOP OF IRPEN KLIMENT
The prospect for unification of UPTsKP and UAPTs is "very tenuous," declared the chairman of the synod's Information Department of the UPTsMP, Bishop of Irpen Kliment, the Center of Information of the UPTsMP reports on 11 June.
"Nothing has prevented these religious organizations from uniting in the past 23 years. But all this time they have been in conflict between themselves. Therefore today their initiatives for unification seem rather tenuous. Today the UAPTs is under pressure from various state structures who are forcing this religious organization to unite with the UPTsKP. It declared this explicitly at its sobor. But actually a great number of bishops and priests of the UAPTs are in opposition to the Kiev patriarchate," Bishop Kliment said.
He said, "even if one speaks about some kind of conditional merger of these churches, then two noncanonical churches still cannot be united into a canonical one."
"The representatives of the Constantinople patriarchate who attended the negotiations of UPTsKP and UAPTs did not promise them anything. A representative of the Kiev patriarchate even pointed this out. There are no premises to think that the Constantinople patriarch will recognize a noncanonical church merger, to say nothing of one that consists of only one third of the Orthodox Christians of Ukraine," the chairman of the synod's Information Department of UPTsMP thinks.
"The Kiev patriarchate has about 5,000 parishes while UPTsMP now counts more than 12,000 parishes. Each parish has dozens to hundreds of people" Bishop Kliment emphasized.
It was previously reported that UPTsKP and UAPTs are considering the possibility of conducting a Unification Sobor for creating a united church on 14 September of this year. (tr. by PDS, posted 12 June 2015)
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