The Unification council of the Eastern Orthodox churches of Ukraine () is a council which was held on 15 December 2018 in the St Sophia's Cathedral in Kyiv. The council voted to unite the existing Ukrainian Eastern Orthodox churches (the UOC-KP, the UAOC and parts of the UOC-MP) through their representatives, on the basis of complete canonical independence. All the members of the UOC-KP and the UAOC, and two members of the UOC-MP, merged into the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the unification council elected Epiphanius of Kyiv as its first primate.
History Three Eastern Orthodox churches in Ukraine Since the end of the 20th century, three Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions have existed in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) (UOC-MP) which is part of the Russian Orthodox Church and thus under the Moscow Patriarchate. This church was, until 11 October 2018, the only Orthodox church in Ukraine recognized by other Orthodox churches. The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC), led by Metropolitan Makariy, which was independent, having been founded in 1921 following the establishment of the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic and having survived the Soviet Union both outside and inside the country. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP), led by Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv, an independent church which was founded in July 1992. In January 1992, after Ukraine gained its independence from the Soviet Union following its dissolution, Metropolitan of Kyiv Filaret of the UOC-MP convened an assembly at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra that adopted a request for autocephaly to the Moscow Patriarch.After autocephaly, The Ukrainian Week (26 October 2018) The Ecumenical Patriarchate unveiled documents in support of Ukrainian autocephaly, Gazeta.ua (14 September 2018) The Patriarchate of Moscow did not comply and asked Filaret to resign. Filaret did not resign and was suspended on 27 May 1992 by the UOC-MP. The bishops loyal to Metropolitan Filaret and a similar group from the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church organized a unifying synod which was held on 25–26 June 1992. The delegates agreed to form a combined church named the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate under a patriarch they elected, Mstyslav of the UAOC. Mstyslav never approved the union between the UAOC and the UOC-KP. Filaret was defrocked on 11 July 1992 by the Russian Orthodox Church. After the death of Patriarch Mstyslav in 1993, the UOC-KP was headed by Patriarch Volodymyr. In July 1995, upon the death of Volodymyr, Filaret was elected head of the UOC-KP by a vote of 160-5. Filaret was anathematized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1997.
The UAOC and the UOC-KP were not recognized by other Orthodox churches and were considered schismatic. ROC officials stated that the anathematization of Filaret was "recognized by all the Local Orthodox Churches including the Church of Constantinople". The synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate did indeed recognize, in a July 1992 letter to Patriarch Alexy II, the defrocking of Filaret by the ROC, and the Ecumenical Patriarch recognized the anathematization of Filaret in a letter of April 1997 to Patriarch Alexy II.
Previous attempts at unification In 2002, Filaret Denisenko said: "The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate [UOC-KP] and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church [UAOC], are not separated in faith, by position as to church canons, by their views on building up the Ukrainian state. Therefore, as we have no disagreements between us".
In October 2009 Bishop Makariy (Maletych) formulated the idea of a single local Ukrainian church under the Ecumenical Patriarchate's jurisdiction, which would be the result of the union between the UAOC and the UOC-KP. At that time Makariy had not yet become the head of the UAOC. Patriarch Filaret, the head of the UOC-KP, expressed support for the idea of a united autocephalous Ukrainian church in October 2011.
Preparations for unification of the UAOC and the UOC-KP took place in 2011 between the episcopates of both churches. In the end, the unification council between the two churches, which was scheduled to take place on 14 September 2015 between the UAOC and the UOC-KP, never took place as both churches could not agree on the future statutes of a united Ukrainian church. This unification attempt therefore failed, Makariy blamed this failure on Philaret's inability to negotiate. Before this, according to Filaret in 2015, the UAOC and the UOC-KP already had had four attempts at negotiations in the previous 20 years, the 2015 negotiation being the fifth. On 14 December 2018, Makariy declared in an interview to the channel NEWSONE that the UOC-KP and the UAOC could have been united "years ago" and blamed the UOC-KP for the fact that this union never happened.
After the October 2018 decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
Following the 11 October 2018 decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to lift the excommunication of the UOC-KP and the UAOC and to grant autocephaly to Ukraine, preparations began for a unification council to institute an autocephalous Ukrainian church that would unite the UOC-KP, the UAOC, and those members of the UOC-MP who were willing to join. The date of this unification council was not set at that stage and, according to Filaret Denisenko, was up to the Patriarch of Constantinople to decide but he said he hoped that thanks to his church's efforts this council could take place before the end of 2018. Filaret said that the issue of jurisdictional affiliation of parishes would be decided by vote of the congregation of each parish. It was believed that a united Ukrainian church was a compulsory step before Ukraine could be granted the Tomos (formal decree) of autocephaly from the Patriarch of Constantinople.
On 12 October 2018, the UOC-KP communicated that the 11 October decision by the Ecumenical Patriarchate had restored the canonical recognition of the episcopate and clergy of the Kyiv Patriarchate. However, it was later clarified that Filaret was considered by the Ecumenical Patriarchate only as "the former metropolitan of Kyiv", and Makariy as "the former Archbishop of Lviv" and, on 2 November, that the Ecumenical Patriarchate did not recognize either the UAOC or the UOC-KP as legitimate and that their respective leaders were not recognized as primates of their churches. The Ecumenical Patriarchate declared that it recognized the sacraments performed by the UOC-KP and the UAOC as valid. The 11 October 2018 decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate was viewed as a key step towards those two organizations merging into a single church independent from Moscow. The Russian Orthodox Church is linked to 12,000 parishes in Ukraine while the Kyiv Patriarchate and UAOC had about 6,000; however, it was believed that many of the Russian-controlled Ukrainian parishes may defect to the Kyiv organizations.
According to Filaret, he would undoubtedly be the winner in case of an election of the leader of a united Ukrainian Church "because Moscow will do everything to destroy the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. And therefore, in order to preserve the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and bring [sic] the cause to the end, [he] ha[s] to work to the end". Filaret declared he was ready to take the role of head of a united Ukrainian Church.
On 20 October 2018, in an interview with Espreso TV, the head of the UAOC, Makariy, declared that there was no negotiations in the direction of a united Ukrainian church and that after his last meeting with Filaret, at which Filaret said that only his statute would be used, Makariy began to question the success of the union. On 27 October Makariy told Zik TV he would not nominate his candidacy during the future council and would instead "support the one to be offered by the Ecumenical Patriarch".
In an interview to the BBC on 2 November, Archbishop Job of the Ecumenical Patriarchate declared the united Ukrainian Church would be called "the Orthodox Church in Ukraine". However, Filaret, head of the UOC-KP, declared on 2 November to Radio Liberty that the united Ukrainian church would be called "Ukrainian Orthodox Church" with "Kyiv Patriarchate" as the church's second name.
On 3 November 2018, Ukrainian President Poroshenko, in visit in Turkey, signed a cooperation agreement with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. According to Poroshenko, this agreement "creates all the conditions for the preparation process for a unification assembly and the process of providing a tomos to be brought into clear correspondence with the canons of the Orthodox Church." This agreement led to protests by hierarchs of the UOC-MP and the ROC. The text of the agreement was later released on 12 March 2019.
On 10 November, the website Vesti-Ukr allegedly revealed the heads of the UAOC and the UOC-KP, respectively Makariy and Filaret, had individually sent a letter to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Makariy declared the same thing as in his interview to Zik TV: that he would not run for the position of head of the united Ukrainian Orthodox church. The real surprise was that Filaret also declared he accepted not to run for this position either. In the letter attributed to Filaret, Filaret allegedly asked the Ecumenical Patriarch to support the election of the member of the UOC-KP Epiphanius (Dumenko), currently serving as Metropolitan and patriarchal deputy in the UOC-KP and protégé of Filaret, as head of the united Ukrainian Orthodox church. On 16 November, Filaret's supposed letter was published by ZNAJ.ua; in this supposed letter, Filaret allegedly declares that he withdrew his candidacy at the request of the Ecumenical Patriarch.
On 13 November, at the initiative of President Poroshenko, a meeting between the episcopate of UOC-MP and President Poroshenko was scheduled to take place in Kyiv. The UOC-MP refused to meet Poroshenko at the Ukrainian House, preferring to meet Poroshenko at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra of the UOC-MP, and immediately notified Poroshenko of it; Poroshenko refused to hold the meeting at the Pechersk Lavra, preferring to meet members of the UOC-MP at the Ukrainian House. The same day, the UOC-MP issued an official statement in which the UOC-MP confirmed "its readiness to meet with the President of Ukraine, but on church territory." Nevertheless, in the evening, some representatives of the Council arrived at the Ukrainian House and met with Poroshenko. According to a BBC source from the president's administration, their number did not exceed 10 people, but they represented a much larger number of UOC-MP hierarchs supporting the creation of an autocephalous church. According to other sources, two metropolitans and the archbishop were present at the meeting with Poroshenko. In addition, Metropolitan Simeon of the UOC-MP had the letter of attorney to participate in a meeting with the president from 15 hierarchs of the UOC-MP. It was assumed that the voting of the hierarchs of the UOC-MP at the planned Council of the "Orthodox Local Church of Ukraine" will be carried out in a similar way (by the letter of attorney). On 14 November, some information concerning the meeting were revealed by Ukrainian President advisor Rostyslav Pavlenko.