Ukraine’s Orthodox Primate calls on Moscow-affiliated church leader to engage in dialogue with no preconditions

The appeal was published on the OCU website on the day of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos reports Ukrinform.

He called on Onufriy to start the dialogue “immediately” for the sake of “good and solidifying the Orthodox Christian faith in Ukraine, for the sake of the Church of Christ, for the sake of protecting the truth from attempts to distort it."

According to the OCU leader, for decades, hierarchs, clergy and Ukrainian faithful had persistently asked the Ecumenical Patriarchate for help and a solution to the problems of the division in the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

"On December 15, 2018, the Council in Saint Sophia adopted all the decisions for which it was convened and created a solid canonical basis for the only Orthodox Church of Ukraine, as Local, to receive from His Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, as it has been asking and wishing for years, a Tomos of autocephaly. Canon law and order in general, as well as the Tomos in particular, stipulate that all Orthodox church institutions within the borders of Ukraine shall be in organizational and jurisdictional unity, as one and only local Orthodox Church," the head of the OCU recalled.

However, Epifaniy noted, due to the position pursued by the Moscow Patriarchate, a part of the Orthodox have not yet heard the call for unity addressed to them, and neither have they fulfilled this duty – to be united. ButAt the same time, among those Ukrainian Orthodox who are not yet in the family of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the number of those who seek to achieve this unity is growing."

"The whole world sees that the Patriarchate of Moscow was deeply poisoned by the pseudo-religious teachings of the ‘Russian world’, the poisonous and deadly fruit of which is Russia’s current horrific war against Ukraine, a diabolical and ungodly war, which the patriarch of Moscow referred to as sacred and blessed the Russian ruler and army for all the crimes they committed and continue to commit on our land. Therefore, being aware in a clear and indisputable way that both the root and fruit of the ‘Russian world’ are evil – for everyone who truly wants to preserve the purity of Orthodoxy and who cares about the good of the Church, it should be clear that one should distance themselves from this evil and have nothing in common with this darkness," Epifaniy emphasized.

Therefore, "firmly and unwaveringly holding on to these principles", he once again appealed to Metropolitan Onufriy and to all Orthodox, but first of all – to bishops and priests – with a call to start a dialogue on unity without any preconditions.

"We are aware that you have previously announced three demands regarding such a dialogue, namely, that we reject the decisions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and that we do not listen to requests from those who accept these decisions and wish to be united as the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. But for objective reasons independent of us, we cannot agree to such demands because they contradict the truth and would mean for us a renunciation of God, who gave our hierarchs and clergy the grace of priesthood, and of the Church of Christ, which by the hands and work of the Ecumenical Patriarch benefited Ukraine," said the head of the OCU.

In this regard, he appealed to Onufriy and the hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to agree to start a dialogue without preconditions: "That is how, without preconditions, a dialogue was started, which was once blessed and supported by the blessed Metropolitan Volodymyr of Kyiv and all Ukraine and which the Patriarchate of Moscow destroyed".

"So, never abandoning hope in God, in the intercession of the Mother of God and all the saints, in the matter of overcoming church divisions, despite the fact that all our numerous earlier appeals to you and to those who are with you, regarding dialogue, remained unanswered, I once again appeal to you, Bishop, and to all who are with you now, and I ask you not to leave this appeal, this hand extended to you, without a constructive response. (…) God will bless the good work with success!" concluded the Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine.