Metropolitan Epifaniy, the head of the "new Orthodox church" in Ukraine, said on Tuesday that no seizures of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) temples would follow after the establishment of the new church in Ukraine
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th December, 2018) Metropolitan Epifaniy, the head of the "new Orthodox church" in Ukraine, said on Tuesday that no seizures of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) temples would follow after the establishment of the new church in Ukraine.
UOC-MP has repeatedly said that non-canonical religious structures have been seizing its churches and oppressing its clergy members.
"There will be no seizure of Moscow Patriarchate churches by the unified church. Those parishes that express their will to become part of the unified Ukrainian church should be accepted. But there will be no violence, and no actions able to trigger social instability," Epifaniy said, as broadcast by Ukrainian ICTV channel.
He specified that there were many UOC-MP parishes willing to join the new church.
After the "new Orthodox church" in Ukraine is granted tomos of autocephaly from the Constantinople Patriarchate, it will be independent and it will not obey to the Constantinople Patriarchate, Epifaniy emphasized.
"We're hearing claims that the church won't be absolutely autocephalous, that it will submit to Constantinople. But this is not true ... We'll be a full-fledged autocephalous church ... We will be an autonomous church after receiving the tomos. It is out of question that we'll be dependent on Constantinople," Epifaniy said.
He still stressed that the "new Orthodox church" would maintain relations with Constantinople.
On Saturday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced the creation of the autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church, following a "unification council" held in Kiev.
The Russian Orthodox Church said the canonical meaning of the "council" in Kiev was insignificant, and the possibility of recognizing Epiphaniy in the Orthodox world was a task "hardly possible to fulfill."
The Ukrainian authorities and the new church want to get a tomos from the Constantinople patriarch granting autocephaly. On Saturday, the Constantinople Patriarchate's press service told Sputnik that Patriarch Bartholomew invited the elected head of Ukraine's "new church" to visit Istanbul to receive the tomos on January 6, 2019.
