UPTsMP COMMENTS ON STATEMENT OF PRIMATE OF UOC OF CANADA ABOUT CREATING UNITED LOCAL CHURCH IN UKRAINE
Patriarch Bartholomew has frequently declared that the question of church divisions can be resolved only within the channel of canonical norms and the only way out for overcoming the schism in Ukrainian Orthodoxy can be simply a return to the church by those who have fallen away from it.
The Center of Information of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church reports that this is how the head of the UPTs Information Department, Bishop of Irpen Kliment, commented on a statement by the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada, Metropolitan Yury, to the effect that the Constantinople patriarchate will do everything possible so that a united local church can be created in Ukraine.
The primate of the UOC of Canada stated this in particular during his recent visit to Ukraine on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of the death of Prince Vladimir.
"In the first place, Metropolitan Yury's status is rather ambiguous in the Orthodox world. Besides, Patriarch Bartholomew can express for himself his own position relative to how the Constantinople patriarchate can be involved in fixing the crisis phenomena connected with the schism in Ukrainian Orthodoxy," Bishop Kliment notes.
He said that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev patriarchate has often declared that they do not want to become a part of the Constantinople patriarchate and thereby deprive themselves of the possibility of claiming independence.
"Besides, the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches of Canada and the USA have much less canonical status within the framework of the Constantinople patriarchate than our church has within the framework of the Moscow patriarchate," the head of the UPTs Information Department emphasized.
As reported earlier, in July of this year the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church refused to unite with the UPTsKP. (tr. by PDS, posted 3 August 2015)
Editorial disclaimer: RRN does
not intend to certify the accuracy of information
presented in articles. RRN simply intends to certify the
accuracy of the English translation of the contents of the
articles as they appeared in news media of countries of
the former USSR.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the
publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit
this Web page. If material is transmitted electronically, please
include reference to the URL,
http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.