According to the members of the Synod, the attempts of Patriarch Bartholomew to dictate his will to other Local Churches do not correspond to Orthodox ecclesiology. And his ambitions, anti-church actions and their consequences require discussion and principled assessment at the pan-Orthodox level.
As the Telegram channel “Pravblog” writes, the Holy Synod of the UOC expressed its position on the statement of Patriarch Bartholomew concerning the status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
“The members of the Synod stated that such a statement is a threat to the preservation of religious peace in Ukraine and aggravates the crisis in world Orthodoxy. The Synod once again stressed that the actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to legalize Ukrainian schismatics and attempts to pass them off as the canonical Church are illegal and anti-canonical”, – the message says.
The Holy Synod noted that the Patriarch of Constantinople had no reason to make any statements regarding the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine has never been under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and therefore the decisions of this Church regarding it have no canonical basis. His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry has not been removed from the leadership of the Kiev Metropolitanate and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by any lawful church court, therefore there is no canonical reason to say that he has lost his powers as the canonically elected and enthroned Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine.