MOSCOW, October 10. /TASS/. The possible autocephaly (independence) of the Ukrainian orthodox church will split the global Orthodox community, said Metropolitan Hilarion, the chief of Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external Church relations.

"At present, we witness new attempts to create parallel hierarchy at the territory of local churches, hear claims that one autocephalous church can have exclusive power over other churches. I don’t want to make forecasts about future events, but there are all reasons to believe that if the project of Ukrainian autocephaly succeeds, it will mean a tragic and, possibly, irreparable split of the entire Orthodox community," he said in an interview with a Greek newspaper, Ethnos Tis Kyriakis, published on Tuesday.

"One should keep in mind that ignoring the holy canons will shatter the entire body of the church. Schismatics from other churches understand perfectly well that if autocephaly is granted to Ukrainian schismatics, the same scenario can be repeated everywhere. That’s why we keep saying that Ukrainian autocephaly will not heal up the schism, it will legalize and encourage it," he went on.

Metropolitan Hilarion added that if the synod decides to grant autocephaly to Ukraine, the Moscow Patriarchate "will be forced to fully severe Eucharistic communication with the Constantinople Patriarchate."

He also warned against politicizing the issue.

"The Ukrainian church issue is, first of all, an internal issue of healing up the schism and restoring the unity of the church. Only the church can do it. Politicians have no power here. Attempts to politicize the religious life will only deepen the gap that separates people," the Russian church official said.

 

Autocephaly debate

Ukraine today has one canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is a self-governing church constituent of the Moscow Patriarchate. Also, there are two religious organizations not recognized by the Orthodox Christian world - the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

The Ukrainian authorities have tried to create a Local Orthodox Church independent of the Moscow Patriarchate on numerous occasions since 1991.In April 2018, Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko addressed Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople with a request to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church.

On September 7, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, as part of preparations for providing autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, appointed its exarchs (envoys) in Kiev, which is the Moscow Patriarchate’s canonical territory.

On September 23, Patriarch Bartholomew said during a Divine Liturgy in Istanbul that Ukraine has the right to obtain autocephalous status, while the Patriarchate of Constantinople has the sole right to provide autocephaly.

The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church responded by saying that Constantinople’s actions were a crude violation of church canons and stopped mentioning Patriarch Bartholomew during church services and conducting joint services with Bishops of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

The Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople began its meeting on Tuesday, during which the Ukrainian Church’s bid for independence (autocephaly) can be considered.