The Polish Orthodox Church has confirmed it does nor recognize the autocephaly of the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Polish Orthodox Church's Council of Bishops said in a statement
WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th April, 2019) The Polish Orthodox Church has confirmed it does nor recognize the autocephaly of the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Polish Orthodox Church's Council of Bishops said in a statement.
The council said that it had studied multiple letters on the matter, including from Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Cyprus, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Constantinople, Alexandria and the UN Human Rights Council. Upon studying related correspondence, the council decided to reaffirm its position on autocephaly, stipulated in the resolutions issued in May and November last year and also in messages by Metropolitan Sawa, the primate of the Polish Orthodox Church.
"Apostates, deprived of priesthood, cannot represent a healthy church system. This [granting autocephaly to the new Ukrainian church] is a non-canonical move that breaches eucharistic ... unity," the council said.
The council reaffirmed that the Polish Orthodox Church believed that the Ukrainian church should receive autocephaly, but "on the basis of dogmatic and canonical regulations of the entire Orthodox Church, not by a group of dissenters."
In mid-December 2018, the unification council was held in Kiev at Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's initiative, during which the head of the new church � uniting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, two previously non-canonical structures � was elected. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate � the only canonical Orthodox jurisdiction in Ukraine back then � has officially refused to take part in the council. It has defrocked its two bishops who attended the council.
On January 6, Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew handed over the tomos of autocephaly to the head of the new church.
The Russian Orthodox Church has refused to recognize the results of the council and Constantinople's decision to grant autocephaly to the new Ukrainian church institution.
