APRIL, 2018 EASTERN CHURCHES NEWS: EDITED BY FR. RON ROBERSON SEIA NEWSLETTER On the Eastern Churches and Ecumenism Number 271: April 30, 2018 Washington, DC The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate Considers Requests for Ukrainian Autocephaly PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE PETRO POROSHENKO ON TUESDAY, APRIL 17, ANNOUNCED THE START OF THE PROCEDURE FOR THE CREATION OF A UNIFIED UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH. The relevant agreement was reached at 7-hour long negotiations between Poroshenko and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Synod members held during a presidential visit to Turkey, Poroshenko said at a meeting with heads of parliamentary factions on Tuesday. "Ukraine is as close as ever to the emergence of its own Unified Orthodox Church," the president said, adding that he cannot elaborate on all details of the agreements reached. A number of elements are needed for the process to see success, including, a corresponding appeal from UOC of the Kyiv Patriarchate and Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, which has already been signed to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in a rare united move of the two churches, according to Poroshenko. Poroshenko expressed hope that the new UOC would be created before the 1030th anniversary of baptism of the Kyiv Rus and called on Parliament to support the appeal to Constantinople. The president called the developments around a possible creation of a United Orthodox Church which would not be subordinate to Moscow a "historic event." The president ruled out the possibility of banning any other churches in Ukraine and noted that the state will remain separated from church. – Unian, April 17. TODAY, APRIL 19, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENTARIANS UPHELD THE PETITION OF PETRO POROSHENKO TO THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH ASKING HIM TO GRANT THE TOMOS OF AUTOCEPHALY TO THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IN UKRAINE. About 268 MPs voted in favor. Before the vote, the President of Ukraine spoke to the audience. He said that the dialogue between the representatives of the state and the Patriarchate of Constantinople had lasted for several years and a favorable moment had come for the autocephaly of the UOC. “All Local Churches have been recognized through the engagement of state in this process. This is the requirement of Constantinople,” Poroshenko said. The President recalled that Orthodoxy came to Ukraine precisely from Constantinople and spread from us to Zalissia, where the Ukrainian princes recklessly founded Moscow. The head of state called on the church to tear the umbilical cord with Moscow. He also recalled that it was Russian church figures who invented the concept of the "Russian World," which the Kremlin later took on board. The President claims that the Churches have finally agreed to forget about old strife for the sake of association and recognition. Autocephaly is given not so much to a particular church but to a country, the President emphasized. That is why the Ukrainian state participates in this process. Not only religion but also geopolitics are involved here. This event is at the same level as the issue of a visa-free regime, and the signing of the Association Agreement. Separately, the Guarantor of the Constitution noted that this event would not violate the constitutional principle of separation of church and state. He also stressed that those who would like to remain part of the Moscow Patriarchate would reserve such a right. The heads of virtually all factions, Parliament Chairman Andriy Parubiy and the First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Culture and Spirituality Iryna Podolyak support the President’s appeal to Patriarch Bartholomew. – RISU, April 19. ON 19 APRIL 2018, THE VERKHOVNA RADA OF UKRAINE ENDORSED AN INITIATIVE OF PRESIDENT PETRO POROSHENKO CONCERNING AN APPEAL TO THE PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE FOR THE CREATION OF THE AUTOCEPHALOUS CHURCH IN UKRAINE. Interfax-Religion web portal asked Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, to present the position of the Russian Orthodox Church on this matter. – The creation of an autocephalous Church is a process that cannot be initiated by secular authorities, because, as is well-known, the Church in present-day states is separated from the state, and the state must not manipulate the Church, be it in an election campaign or for any other political purposes. The whole concept of the creation of one local Church in Ukraine, separated from the Russian Orthodox Church, is based on the idea that in an independent state there should be an independent Church. Had we decided to apply this principle, then the Church of Alexandria, for instance, should have been divided in over fifty parts, since it embraces all Africa, and Africa has more than fifty countries; the Church of Antioch should have been divided in several parts, just like the Church of Jerusalem, and so on. Only enemies of the Church benefit from such schemes and such ideas. The schism in Ukraine occurred because the former Metropolitan of Kiev, Philaret Denisenko, decided to solve his own, personal problem by means of church schism. The problem was that he had been one of the candidates for the Moscow Patriarchal Throne, but the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church had elected another man to this post – the late Patriarch Alexy II. Philaret Denisenko nursed a grievance and upon his return to Ukraine set about working towards the creation of an independent Church. Later, at the Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, he promised to resign from the post of Metropolitan of Kiev. However, returning to Ukraine, he changed his mind, announced another decision, thus breaking the promise given to the hierarchs of the Russian Church, and initiated the church schism. For almost a quarter of a century, this church schism has gathered pace due to the support by secular authorities. Yet, it is still a schism. As for the legitimization of schism, there haven’t been such precedents in the history of the Church. There were precedents when some hierarchs, clergymen, laypeople, groups and organizations returned from schism through repentance, and it is the only way that the Orthodox Church can offer. Certainly, we have recently heard of negotiations of the Ukrainian President Poroshenko with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. We have heard of the schismatics’ various initiatives, of trips to Phanar. We have heard of rich gifts brought there… We know all this, as well as many other things which I would not like to make public. At the same time, for many years we have heard a very firm position expressed by the Patriarch of Constantinople who has always said that he recognizes His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry as the only head of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. And the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has no intention of severing relations with the Russian Orthodox Church. We are one Church born of the Kiev, Dnieper baptismal font, and, of course, neither Patriarchate of Constantinople, nor any other Church can unilaterally proclaim autocephaly of this or that Church. Therefore we believe that despite all the media fuss, this initiative will have the same fate as the initiatives of previous years, and we say again that the Ukrainian church problem can only be solved by canonical means. – Press Release, Moscow Patriarchate, April19. THE HOLY AND SACRED SYNOD, UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF HIS ALL- HOLINESS ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW, CONCLUDED ITS REGULAR SESSION, which took place between Thursday, April 19th, and Friday, April 20th. All the items on the agenda were reviewed and discussed and the appropriate decisions were made. In accordance with the Divine and Sacred Canons, as well as centuries-old ecclesiastical order and Holy Tradition, the Ecumenical Patriarchate concerns itself with the preservation of Pan-Orthodox unity and the care for the Orthodox Churches throughout the world—especially of the Ukrainian Orthodox Nation that has received the salvific Christian faith and holy baptism from Constantinople. Thus, as its true Mother Church, it examined matters pertaining to the ecclesiastical situation in Ukraine, as done in previous synodal sessions, and having received from ecclesiastical and civil authorities—representing millions of Ukrainian Orthodox Christians—a petition that requests the bestowal of autocephaly, decided to closely communicate and coordinate with its sister Orthodox Churches concerning this matter. -- At the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the 22nd of April, 2018. THE DEPARTMENT FOR EXTERNAL CHURCH RELATIONS OF THE UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF THE MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE ISSUED THIS STATEMENT ON APRIL 22: On April 19, 2018, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, by Resolution No. 8284, supported the appeal of the President of Ukraine P. O. Poroshenko to His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I regarding the “granting of a Tomos of Autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.” In connection to this, and with the blessing of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, the UOC Department for External Church Relations draws attention to the following. In accordance with Article 35 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the Church is separate from the state, and therefore the Church decides on issues of Church life independently. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has canonical relations with Ecumenical Orthodoxy, did not appeal to Patriarch Bartholomew I to grant autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine nor did it authorize the President or deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to do so. In connection to the above-mentioned initiatives, the government is overstepping its constitutional boundaries and interfering in Church affairs. Such actions by the Ukrainian state in the religious sphere could be justified only if the Church in Ukraine had a legally established state status, as it was in the history of many states and still remains in certain states of the world. However, since the Church in Ukraine today does not have government status and is separate from the state, then the state authorities have absolutely no grounds whatsoever to meddle in Church affairs.