Constantinople: Moscow Patriarchate no longer exists in Ukraine

02.11.2018 16:24

Ukrinform

On October 11, the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate abolished the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church over the Ukrainian episcopate. Therefore, the church of the Moscow Patriarchate no longer exists in Ukraine.

"It is very important that the decision of the Synod of October 11 revoked the act of 1686. From a canonical point of view, this means that the church of the Moscow Patriarchate no longer exists in Ukraine today," Archbishop Job (Getcha) of Telmessos, Archbishop of the Church of Constantinople, representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the World Council of Churches, Doctor of Theology, who deals with Ukrainian issues, said in an interview with BBC Ukraine.

According to him, de facto all the bishops in Ukraine, according to the decision of the Synod, are the bishops of the Ecumenical Throne and now they "should wait for the Ecumenical Patriarchate's directive concerning their further functioning and existence amid the prospect of granting the autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine."