OCU gives official clarification regarding status of Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate

The press service of the Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (OCU) gave an official clarification regarding the status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate.

The document states that on December 15, 2018, the UOC-KP terminated its independent activity and all its fullness became part of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, according to the decision of its own Local Council.

The Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Orthodox Church of Ukraine) was registered on January 30, 2019 as a religious administrative center and the central executive and administrative body of the UOC (OCU). On the same day, according to the decision of the Local Council of the UOC-KP, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine cancelled its resolutions on registration of the Charter of the Kyiv Patriarchate of the UOC-KP and the Charter of the UOC-KP.

Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine is the Primate, i.e. the “first among the bishops of the people” of the Local UOC according to the spirit and the letter of the 34 Apostolic Rule.

Metropolitan Epifaniy does not govern by his sole authority, but on the basis of the Church's Charter approved by the Unification Council, the decisions of its Holy Synod, in collaboration with the entirety of bishops. The personal authority of hierarchs or the respect they enjoy do not constitute grounds for the Primate to independently change the canonical order, defined by the 34 Apostolic Rule, the provisions of the Charter of the Church, neither they allow for violating the Tomos of autocephaly.