Deanery of UOC-KP in Germany is willing to be subordinate to OCU
Believers of the German deanery of the former UOC-Kyiv Patriarchate with a center in Cologne expressed a desire to belong to the Orthodox Church of Ukraie: on March 5 Archpriest Volodymyr Chaika made such a statement on his Facebook page, commenting on a similar desire of some parishes from the United States.
“At our parish meeting held on February 17, we also voted for being subordinate to Kyiv,” he wrote.
The priest said in a comment to RISU that a meeting with the head of the OCU, Metropolitan Epifaniy (Dumenko) in Kiyv was also held, the main purpose of which was to personally congratulate Metropolitan Epifany on his appointment as a Primate, and, on this occasion, he spoke about the will of his community regarding their jurisdictional affiliation. At the same time, not a single word was said that the deanery or clergy “renounced the jurisdiction of the Constantinople Patriarchate,” as it was interpreted by some media outlets of the Russian Orthodox Church.
“Both in Ukraine and in Germany, each community has the right to determine its own jurisdiction," said Fr. Volodymyr. “This in no way means that the decision is final. The wish of the faithful had to be communicated to the Primate. In this regard, both clergy and believers need a dialogue in order to find a common solution.”
In a recent interview, Metropolitan Epifaniy, in particular, said: “For example, in Europe, there are many parishes that themselves have expressed a desire to be in submission to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. I even had conversations a few days ago with certain community representatives who say: “We have good relations, we are already changing our affiliation.” Now I am preparing letters for changing diocese for those priests from whom requests have been submitted.
This process should be gradual and peaceful. There are some communities that do not want to change affiliation. But we will have a dialogue with them. On the part of Patriarch Bartholomew there is no imperative that you have to convey to us these parishes today. They perfectly understand the situation.”
