Metropolitan Epiphany Elected As Head Of Non-Canonical Church In Ukraine

Metropolitan of non-canonical Pereyaslav and Bila Tserkva Epiphany Dumenko was elected the head of a new church structure in Ukraine and introduced in this quality by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th December, 2018) Metropolitan of non-canonical Pereyaslav and Bila Tserkva Epiphany Dumenko was elected the head of a new church structure in Ukraine and introduced in this quality by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday.

The head of the "new church in Ukraine" was elected at the "unification council" in Kiev, which was held behind the closed doors.

At the end of the council, the elected head of the "new church" came on the scene on the Sofia square and was introduced by Poroshenko. The event was broadcast by the Pervyi channel.

"Thank God, my congratulations," Poroshenko said.

Poroshenko then announced the creation of the so-called Ukrainian autocephalous church.

"This day will make or has already made the history of Ukraine as the day of the creation of the local Ukrainian autocephalous church," he said.

The unification council was meant to choose the leader of the new independent Ukrainian Orthodox church and adopt the structure's statute. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), which has been the only canonical Orthodox church in Ukraine for hundreds of years, has refused to take part in the unification council.

The Moscow Patriarchate calls the situation around the autocephaly the "legalization of schism," saying that it would have catastrophic consequences and would affect millions of Christians in Ukraine and other countries, and has already broken the Eucharistic communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople.