"The return of the UOC to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate is out of the question" - Archbishop Silvester

The hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and rector of the Kiev Theological Academy and Seminary, Archbishop Silvester (Stoychev), has commented on the future development of the UOC’s relations with the Russian Orthodox Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople. According to the hierarch, the Ukrainian Church will never again return to the Russian Orthodox Church, however, in his opinion, the UOC needs to develop relations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. He said this in an interview with the Serbian edition of VREME, reports the Telegram channel «Pravblog».

«In relations with the Moscow Patriarchate, the point of no return has already been passed, and the return of the UOC to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate is out of the question. Today our Church exists as a fully independent organization. We independently open dioceses and ordain bishops, independently perform divine services, open parishes abroad, where today there are millions of Ukrainians. We already have the experience of solving all issues of internal church life independently. Itis only necessary that other Local Churches recognize this independence», — said the bishop.

Archbishop Sylvester added that although the UOC does not currently maintain any contacts with the Moscow and Constantinople Patriarchates, this threatens isolation. Therefore, according to the hierarch of the UOC, the Ukrainian Praovlsavnaya Church should start a diplomatic dialog with the Phanar to break the deadlock.

«Today the UOC does not maintain any contacts with either the Moscow Patriarchate or the Church of Constantinople. I personally believe that this is a very dangerous situation, as we are threatened with gradual self-isolation. This cannot be allowed under any circumstances. That is why I have publicly stated several times that our Church could well start a church-diplomatic dialog with the Church of Constantinople, so that we could at least learn to hear and understand each other and start looking for a way out of this impasse,» he added.

Earlier Archbishop Elpidophoros of America (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Patriarchate of Constantinople) criticized the Primate and the episcopate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The hierarch claims that the Church cannot be considered canonical if it refuses to commemorate its Patriarch. At the same time, Elpidophoros suggested that if the hierarchs of the UOC do not want to commemorate the Patriarch of Moscow, they can invoke the name of the Patriarch of Constantinople during Divine Services. Such a step, in his opinion, would relieve tension in relations between the UOC and the Phanar and would become a way to resolve the church conflict in Ukraine.