Onufriy's Ukrainian Orthodox Church not breaking with Moscow

The Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has again avoided taking a position on autocephaly. Among the bishops, the influence of Metropolitan Feodosiy of Cherkassk, who backs “fidelity in submission to the Mother Church of Moscow", is growing. Despite losing numerous parishes to Filaret’s Orthodox Church (recognised as an autonomous by Constantinople), it is hard to know which of the two Churches really has primacy among the faithful.

Kyiv (AsiaNews) – The Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)[*] was held recently in Feofaniia (Teofaniia) near Kyiv, at the residence of Metropolitan Onufriy (Berezovsky).

The meeting comes three years after the 2022 synod when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was condemned, leading the Church to distance itself from Moscow. This was not followed by the necessary canonical procedures to completely sever relations with the Patriarchate of Moscow, led by Kirill (Gundyaev), and proclaim its autocephaly, as the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU)[†] had done in 2019, under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Ukrainian Church historian Serhii Shumylo commented on his blog that “many hoped that after three years, an unequivocal position would finally be taken on the separation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the Moscow Patriarchate,” so as to re-establish Eucharistic communion with Constantinople and ask for recognition of autocephaly, without merging with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, from which it is still bitterly divided. This time too, expectations were dashed “to the joy of Moscow,” the scholar sadly noted.

This synod was limited to the reading of an exhortation by Metropolitan Onufriy, citing the “painful journey” of the past few years, followed by a discussion among the bishops in which the influence of Metropolitan Feodosiy (Snigirev) of Cherkassk, 51, prevailed in favour of “fidelity in submission to the Mother Church of Moscow” on behalf of a large group of UOC “hierarchs and priests”.

For his part, Feodosiy was supposed to appear before a court in Cherkassk to answer the charge of “supporting the invader,” but the hearing was postponed.

The bishops in favour of the request for autocephaly were in a clear minority, while most of the others preferred not to take an open position, highlighting the state of great tensions and uncertainty within Ukraine’s main Orthodox Church.

Before the war, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had about 12,000 parishes, more than double that of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine; today the proportions have changed, but not decisively.

Despite the difficulty of officially calculating the membership of each, the two Churches are roughly equivalent today in size, even if the different narratives unilaterally claim primacy. For ordinary Ukrainian Orthodox believers, uncertainty and confusion prevail, so that they tend to turn to the priests who are closest to them or to those who are most capable of attracting people to church.

Shumylo cited another anniversary, i.e. the Kharkov Synod, in May 1992, when the assembly of Ukrainian bishops was convened directly by Moscow, to prevent autocephaly, after the end of the Soviet Union and the beginning of Ukrainian independence.

Even then, many bishops remained uncertain, such as the current Metropolitan Onufriy, while the Metropolitan of Kyiv Filaret (Denysenko) chose the path of breaking with Moscow and proclaimed himself patriarch, forming a new Church recognised as autocephalous in 2019.

Today, 96-year-old Filaret is the “honorary” patriarch, replaced as metropolitan by his former secretary Epiphanius (Dumenko).

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is under scrutiny by the Ukrainian government, following the decision of its parliament (Verkhovna Rada) to ban all religious associations dependent on hostile countries like Russia.

The State Service for Ethnic Affairs and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) issued a statement saying that “the verification is not concluded, and continues in strict accordance with the legislation of the country”. Should it be demonstrated that the affiliation is not only canonical, but involves active cooperation with the Moscow Patriarchate, the “liquidation” of all the communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will be initiated.

[*] Українська православна церква, Ukrayins'ka Pravoslavna Tserkva.

[†] Православна церква України, Pravoslavna Tserkva Ukrainy.

• ukraine
• russia
• orthodox churches
• synod
• autocephaly