New Ukrainian Church Has Less Independence Than UOC-MP - Metropolitan

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th December, 2018) The newly created autocephalous Ukraine Orthodox Church has less independence than the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), former primate of the Orthodox Church of America Metropolitan Jonah Paffhausen told Sputnik.

On Saturday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced the creation of the autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church following a "unification council" held in Kiev.

"The UOC-MP is entirely self-governing. What the schismatic church got is just a version of autonomy and submission to and inclusion into the Patriarchate of Constantinople. This is a far cry from autocephaly and far less than the UOC-MP has," Paffhausen said.

At a meeting in Kiev, Metropolitan Epiphany Dumenko was elected as the head the non-canonical Ukraine Orthodox Church.

Metropolitan Jonah, who is currently retired in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) said that this move only deepens the schism.

"All the Orthodox Churches will have to choose whether they will be in communion with the schismatic body," Jonah said.

Jonah emphasized that "the Constantinople Patriarchate has compromised itself with the schismatics, and have elected one of their own."

However, Jonah noted that some churches may want to maintain relations with the Constantinople Patriarch regardless his un-canonical acts.

Paffhausen said he was surprised that two UOC-MP bishops participated in the council in Kiev.

"It is very unfortunate. For whatever reasons they went to the council, it means they have joined the schismatics," Paffhausen said.

Political interference in church affairs has created most of the problems regarding the schism in Ukraine.

"This is not just Poroshenko, but his sponsors," Paffhausen said. "It is very bad for the politicians to interfere in the life of the Church, especially when it is also illegal."

The Moscow Patriarchate has characterized the situation with respect to the autocephaly of the non-canonical Ukraine Orthodox Church "legalization of schism." The Moscow Patriarchate said the situation will have catastrophic consequences and will affect millions of Christians in Ukraine and other countries, and has already broken the Eucharistic communion with the Constantinople Patriarchate.

The canonical UOC-MP has repeatedly reported about the oppression of its clergy and the seizure of churches by representatives of non-canonical religious structures. In particular, it lost 40 churches between 2014-2016.