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Constantinople fails to fix date for unification council 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

ISTANBUL, November 29. /TASS/. The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople has failed to set the date for the unification council in Ukraine during a meeting of its Holy and Sacred Synod in Istanbul, which was held on November 27-29, a TASS correspondent reported.

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After the meeting, reporters received the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s press release, which said that the Ukrainian Church’s draft Constitutional Charter had been prepared as part of plans to grant autocephaly to it.

The Phanar press service earlier reported that the exact date for the unification council would be given at the Synod meeting.

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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.

On November 3, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko signed an agreement on cooperation to create an independent Ukrainian church.

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