“In the short term, some form of co-partnership with the Phanar may be found,” - Govorun on the future of the UOC

The defrocked former cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill Govorun, commented on the future of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church after the legislative ban. Govorun believes that the UOC, whose representatives are not ready to unite with the OCU, can establish communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. He said this in a commentary to Glavkom.

“There may be several options,” Hovorun says, ”Obviously, this is joining the local OCU, although, as far as I understand, most communities are not yet ready for this. The common denominator between the two churches is a hostile attitude toward each other. Of course, it needs to be changed, but this is a longer process. In the short term, some form of communion and communication with the Ecumenical Patriarchate can be found. So far, priests are more active than the leadership of the UOC (MP), which is interested in maintaining the status quo. They just need to be woken up,” – said Hovorun.

In addition, the former archimandrite of the Russian Orthodox Church believes that the only way for the UOC is to restore Eucharistic communion with the Church of Constantinople and to search for models for further unification with the OCU into a single structure.

“The only correct steps that the Kyiv Metropolis of the Russian Orthodox Church should take are to restore communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and to seek a canonical status that would meet the requirements of the law in cooperation with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and in dialogue with the OCU. As an intermediate solution to the creation of a single Ukrainian local church, the following is possible: a kind of federation or confederation of two church structures in Ukraine is formed that recognize each other and have concelebration and communion. Obviously, this is possible only with the assistance and moderation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Ukrainian state,”  – Hovorun added.

Earlier, Cyril Hovorun said that the ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will not solve the problems that the state is facing. He is convinced that it would be much better to recreate the Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine and establish strict control over what will happen within such a structure.