Head of the UOC Administration: The true way of the Church is faithfulness to Christ, not Unia

Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich), the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s (UOC) administrator of affairs, has said that unification cannot be the true path of the Church to unity, emphasizing that true unity is possible only in the truth of faith. He also commented on the prospect of the Pope’s visit to Ukraine, noting that the pontiff associates it exclusively with the end of war and the advent of peace, viewing such a gesture primarily in a humanitarian and symbolic way.

According to the Macedonian edition of Jurnal, Metropolitan Anthony emphasized that Pope Francis has repeatedly stressed the conditionality of his possible visit to Kiev on the cessation of hostilities. «In this sense, we are not talking about immediate practical steps, but about a hypothetical visit, which the pope himself views primarily in a humanitarian and symbolic way — as a gesture of support for the suffering people and a call for an end to violence, » the hierarch said.

From the Orthodox point of view, any visit of the Roman Catholic Church’s leader to the territory of the traditional Orthodox presence certainly cannot be perceived neutrally. Historical experience, according to the Metropolitan, shows that the Uniate problematic has always been associated with pain, divisions and serious ecclesiological and theological contradictions, and the memory of this is alive and cannot be ignored.

The Orthodox Church fundamentally rejects the Unia as a path to unity, because, as Metropolitan Anthony emphasizes, true unity is possible only in the truth of faith and not through the submission of one Church tradition to another. This position has been repeatedly voiced at the Church-wide level, including in the Orthodox-Catholic dialog. The hierarch recalled that it was this approach that was declared in the final statement at the meeting of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis in Cuba in 2016. «Unity cannot be built on the dilution of dogmas and ecclesiology,» the Metropolitan noted, adding that the Church is called to be vigilant and keep the faith, not giving in to fears and rumors, following the apostolic commandment, «test everything, hold fast to good things» (1 Thess. 5:21).

In conclusion, the Administrator of the UOC emphasized that the fate of Orthodoxy in Ukraine is decided not by external visits and diplomatic gestures, but by fidelity to the Church and Christ, by preserving the canonical order and the living gracious life. «It is this, and not Unia in any form, that remains the authentic way of the Church, » Metropolitan Anthony summarized.

We shall remind you that earlier we reported that as part of a working visit to Rome, the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk held a meeting with Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican. The central topic of the talks was the invitation of His Holiness to make an apostolic visit to Ukraine, which, according to Stefanchuk, would be a powerful sign of solidarity and spiritual support for the Ukrainian people in this difficult time.