2 July 2014
In recent years, relations between the UOC (MP) and the UOC-KP have improved, but after Metropolitan Volodymyr’s withdrawal from active governance of the Church there have been tendencies towards enmity between the two confessions.
This is stated in the commentary of the UOC-KP press center on the statement of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC-MP.
“Only in recent years due to the wise stance of UOC-MP Primate Metropolitan Volodymyr there has been a significant improvement in mutual relations, the first steps towards dialogue and understanding have been taken. However, it should be noted that after Metropolitan Volodymyr’s withdrawal from active governance of the UOC-MP the tendency to feud with the Kyiv Patriarchate have intensified, reviving the rhetoric of mid-90s, and everyone who shared and supported the course of Metropolitan Volodymyr towards understanding and reconciliation experience pressure from the new leadership of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). An example of this is the DECR itself in which a number of employees have been fired recently”, the Kyiv Patriarchate states.
“Finally, we would like to remind the brothers that it was the Kyiv Patriarchate that the leaders of UOC-MP turned to for mediation and protection, fearful of coming of the perturbed Maidan participants to their residence in Kyiv-Caves Monastery in February. In a crucial moment of transition of power to the new government, as a result of the UOC-KP’s firm and categorical position rejecting violence against the churches of UOC-MP and denouncing any provocation on religious grounds, the peace had been preserved, and no riots and escalating confrontation had been allowed. Unfortunately, some people quickly forget yesterday’s good deeds’, goes the UOC-KP’s commentary.
The Kyiv Patriarchate also disagrees with the opinion that the UOC-KP is responsible for the failure of the actual dialogue to unite the two Churches launched four months ago.
“It’s amazing to see a reference to the dialogue between the UOC-MP and the Kyiv Patriarchate made by the people who really know why it did not begin four months after its announcement, and what metropolitans gave instructions to prevent it. It is sad to see that having made no official step toward a dialogue since February, the UOC-MP representatives are trying to shift the blame for its failure on its Kyiv Patriarchate”, says the press service of the Kyiv Patriarchate.