Bishops’ Council of the UOC-KP nominates candidate for Primate of new Church

On December 13, 2018, a meeting of the Bishops' Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate was held at the Patriarchal Residence in Kyiv under the chairmanship of Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine.

The Council heard information about the preparation for the Unification Council, which is convened on December 15, 2018 in St. Sophia of Kyiv. It approved the decision on participation of the hierarchs, representatives of the clergy, laity and monks, according to the blessing of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. This information was provided by the Information Center of the UOC-KP. This is all official information.

According to Ukrayinska Pravda, which cites its own sources in the UOC-KP, the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate voted for the Metropolitan Epifaniy of Pereyaslavl and Bila Tserkva as a candidate for the office of the primate of the one Orthodox Ukrainian Church.

The voting procedure was not secret but open.

About 40 hierarchs gathered at the Council and approximately 30 of them supported Metropolitan Epifaniy as a candidate. At the same time, 12 archbishops supported Metropolitan Michael of Lutsk.

It is noted that the decision of the Council of the UOC-KP in relation to Epifaniy does not mean that another candidate, for example, Metropolitan Michael of Lutsk, cannot be nominated on December 15 from the KP milieu at the unification council of the new Ukrainian Church.

Metropolitan Epifaniy of Pereyaslavl and Bila Tserkva is within the closest circle of Patriarch Filaret. It is he who is Patriarch Filaret’s “right hand”, a patriarchal governor.

As RISU reported, in an interview with BBC Ukraine Archbishop Yevstratiy noted that all the hierarchs of the UOC-KP will come to the Council on December 15. Each of them will take two persons: one cleric and one monk or layman.

He noted that voting at the council would be secret.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will hand over the Tomos of autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church personally to the elected Primate of the unified Orthodox Church in Ukraine on January 6, 2019.