Media: Phanar is disappointed with Ukrainian church issue

The Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, held from October 22 to 24, 2024, did not adopt any resolutions on the Ukrainian church issue due to the lack of positive dynamics in this matter. During the meeting, a report was heard by members of the Phanar delegation who visited Ukraine in August, in which the main conclusion was the unwillingness of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the head of the OCU to make mutual concessions to start a dialogue. This was reported by the Orthodox Times.

According to knowledgeable sources of orthodoxtimes.com, on the second day of the meeting of the Holy Synod, a 50-page report of the three-person delegation that visited Ukraine in August was presented. The atmosphere during the subsequent discussion was tense, as the Synodal hierarchs seemed to conclude from the report that the delegation’s visit did not bring any results that could be positively assessed.

In particular, it was noted that there seems to be no prospects for dialogue between the two sides in Ukraine, as both Metropolitan Onufriy and Epiphany Dumenko are unwilling to step back from their positions in order to find an understanding.

In addition, it is reported that some hierarchs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople have even raised the issue of convening a new unification council. Meanwhile, some members of the Phanar Synod expressed doubt that the choice of Epiphany Dumenko as the head of the OCU was ultimately correct.

The meeting also heard the opinion of the Primate of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw, who called for a de facto reset of the autocephaly format in Ukraine with the election of a new primate.

Earlier, the former press secretary of the head of the UOC-KP Filaret Denisenko, and now a well-known lobbyist for the OCU in the media and a cleric of this organization, Andriy Kovalev, said that the OCU risks losing the Tomos of autocephaly granted by Patriarch Bartholomew. Kovalev attributes this to the fact that the OCU does not fulfill all the conditions of this document, the ultimate goal of which, in his opinion, is to unite all Orthodox Ukrainians into one religious structure.