Ukraine's Orthodox Church Calls On Patriarchs To Convene To Discuss Constantinople's Moves

Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich on Wednesday suggested convening an assembly of Orthodox church patriarchs to discuss various issues emerging in the wake of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople's decision to prepare for granting autocephaly to Ukraine

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th September, 2018) Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich on Wednesday suggested convening an assembly of Orthodox church patriarchs to discuss various issues emerging in the wake of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople's decision to prepare for granting autocephaly to Ukraine.

"I believe that now the time is right for the church representatives to gather for an assembly, for a meeting to make decisions on these issues because difficult times are coming. It is us who create these difficult times, or rather some of our brothers [who do this]," Danilevich, who serves as the deputy head of the UOC's department for external church relations, said in an interview published on the UOC website.

The church official criticized the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople over its failure to settle the issue of granting autocephaly to Ukraine without creating a "division in the whole Orthodox Christianity.

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Last Friday, the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), which is a self-governing church within the Moscow Patriarchate, said that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I had appointed Bishop Daniel of Pamphilon from the United States and Bishop Ilarion of Edmonton from Canada as its exarchs to Ukraine as part of preparations for granting autocephaly to Ukraine.

This decision of Bartholomew I was met with criticism by the Russian Orthodox Church that said it would stop full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople if it granted autocephaly to the UOC.