Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church: We do not belong to the Western Patriarchate, but are building our own

The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, shared his vision for the development of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Union. Shevchuk asserts that although the UGCC is in communion with the Vatican, it does not belong to the “Western Patriarchate.” He believes that the UGCC should become the foundation for a “single Kyiv church,” so the Uniates cannot abandon the idea of obtaining the status of a “patriarchate” in order to be equal in rights with other Local Churches. The words of the head of the Greek Catholic Church of Ukraine are reported by the Information Department of the UGCC.

«We have a memory of undivided Christianity. Moscow does not have this, but Kyiv does. That is why the Kyiv Church has always strived for communion. We are a local Church that is in communion with the Pope, but we do not belong to the Western Patriarchate. We are building our own. A necessary condition for building relations between Christians is the rejection of ecclesiastical exclusivism. We must grow in communion, building relationships between those Churches that are heirs to the baptism of St. Vladimir,» — Shevchuk said.

He also added that the status of “patriarchate” to which the UGCC aspires is “institutional maturity,” which Ukrainian Uniates cannot renounce. Therefore, the UGCC will continue to work in this direction to become the foundation for the unification of a “single Ukrainian church.”

“We cannot abandon the idea of a patriarchate because for us it means ceasing to exist. This is not a question of jurisdiction, but of the maturity of our Church in communion with the Universal Church,” — he said.

It should be noted that earlier Sviatoslav Shevchuk called the information that the structure he heads was formed as a result of the Brest Religious Union in 1596 “Moscow propaganda.” According to Shevchuk, the history of the UGCC dates back more than a thousand years and begins with the baptism of Kievan Rus.