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Ukrainian Church: France-based bishop’s likely Kiev visit ‘breach of all clerical canons’

The Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople decided at its meeting held on October 9-11 to proceed with granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church

Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, Church of Constantinople EPA/ETTORE FERRARI

Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, Church of Constantinople

© EPA/ETTORE FERRARI

KIEV, November 15. /TASS/. A possible visit to Kiev by Ecumenical Patriarchate bishop, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, as chairman of the "unification council," which is expected to elect a primate to the future Local Orthodox Church in Ukraine, will be a violation of all ecclesiastical canons, Vasily Anisimov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, told TASS on Thursday.

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"This visit will be a violation of all ecclesiastical canons," he stressed. Anisimov pointed to a decision by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry that all church activities should be held with his blessing.

"Until recently, when we came to Greece, we first received a blessing from the Archbishop of Athens, on the territory of Constantinople - from the Archbishop of Constantinople, in Jerusalem - from the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Now, the situation with Emmanuel’s visit makes one feel that there is no church in Ukraine," Anisimov noted, adding that he considers this approach to be "absurd" and "a criminal act against church."

Ukraine’s GolosUA media group earlier reported that Chairman of the Unification Council, Constantinople Church bishop, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, would arrive in Kiev on November 15. According to media reports, he is in charge of the organizational procedures to lay the groundwork for the unification council, which is set to elect the primate of the Local Ukrainian Church, a necessary step towards the ultimate goal, which is getting the Tomos of Autocephaly. The council’s meeting is scheduled to be held on November 22, GolosUA reported.

Church crisis in Ukraine

The Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople decided at its meeting held on October 9-11 to proceed with granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church. It revoked the 1686 decision on transferring the Kiev Metropolitanate under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate and announced plans to bring it back under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. It also reinstated the heads of two non-canonical churches in Ukraine, Filaret of the Kiev Patriarchate and Makariy of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church, to their hierarchical and priestly ranks.

On October 15, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church said in response to that move that full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was no longer possible.

For its part, on November 13, the Council of Bishops of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church adopted a resolution recognizing Constantinople’s decisions on Ukraine as void and said it was breaking off full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

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