Administrator of UOC-MP speaks about evolution of the relationship between UOC-MP and UGCC

In an interview to Orthodoxy in Ukraine, administrator of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), first vicar of the Kyiv Metropolitanate Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanych) of Boryspil talked about the last Council of Bishops in Moscow and about its decisions, which caught the public’s attention in Ukraine. Bishop Anthony spoke also about the relations between the UOC-MP and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Religion in Ukraine reports.

According to Metropolitan Anthony, the question of the internal life of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was not discussed at the council. However, in Patriarch Kirill’s program report special attention was paid to the specifics of church-state relations and some other aspects of church life in various countries of the former Soviet Union. Based on the patriarch’s report, the council included in its final documents several important provisions relating to Ukraine. Thus the council supported the head of the UOC Metropolitan Volodymyr and the bishops of the church in their work to preserve church unity and overcome church schisms.

In addition, the council stressed the need for the UOC-MP as a religious association to obtain legal status, to secure the transparency and effectiveness of the system of the state registration of religious communities in Ukraine, legislative support in the restitution of church property, state licensing and accreditation of religious institutions of the UOC-MP, and the introduction in the Armed Forces of Ukraine an institute for chaplains.

According to Metropolitan Anthony, these are not initiatives of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, but demands that the UOC-MP has repeatedly expressed in its official statements and appeals to the Ukrainian authorities.

As to relations with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, according to Metropolitan Anthony, in his report the head of the UOC-MP, "stated that today the relationship between the Orthodox and Greek Catholics is not as tense as it was, say, in the early 1990s. During the last 20 years we have seen a significant evolution. Yet some conflicts still arise today."

The metropolitan again noted that the relationship between the UOC and the UGCC is peaceful and constructive: "Thank God, we were able to keep in Ukraine interdenominational peace. And this is our priority. We are open to constructive relations with the UGCC."

According to Metropolitan Anthony, relations between the Orthodox and Greek Catholics in Ukraine "must be based on the experience of the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue that has been going on for several decades. In this dialogue achievements are important, which we have to implement in inter-Christian relations and in Ukraine. This is an important task for both sides. Both the Orthodox and Greek Catholics in Ukraine should learn the true Christian openness."

The metropolitan touched on the issue of the recognition by the Greek Catholic Church of the sacrament of baptism, performed in the Kyivan Patriarchate. He said that Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk in his letter to Patriarch Filaret outlined the "traditional Catholic doctrine on the sacrament of baptism ... For the UGCC valid baptisms can be performed not only by Christians but also by Muslims, Jews or even non-believers."

However, according to Metropolitan Anthony, for the Orthodox Church this approach is unacceptable: “In the Orthodox Church the sacrament of baptism can only be performed by one who belongs to the Church of Christ. And this is a fundamental difference in the approach to the sacrament of baptism between Orthodox and Catholics. Therefore, the validity of the Orthodox sacrament of baptism is directly related to the question of the boundaries of the church.”