made his first pastoral visit to the United States in February 2006.
“Americans are a kind, good people,” he said. “There is an openness and willingness to accept strangers here which makes this a great country.” He not only came to make a pastoral visit in the United States, but also to pay his respects for those taken by the tragedy that still haunts the world. His Beatitude has held memorial services for victims of the 9/11 attacks at St. Andrew’s Church in Kyiv.
He noted that over a million Americans have Ukrainian heritage. Metropolitan Myfodii is committed to seeing a unified, national Ukrainian Church, but theologically and organizationally it must be achieved in a way that best nurtures a spiritual and national reawakening.
“There is division in Ukrainian Orthodoxy,” Metropolitan Myfodii reflected.
There has been no agreement to unite with Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Kyiv Patriarchate. Despite the slow progress, “discussions are ongoing. We will continue to work for understanding between the Churches. If the Ukrainian Orthodox Church unites it will be one of the biggest in the world.” He is hopeful that this unity is an inevitability, yet he cautiously observes that foreign influences want it stopped.
“Autocephalous means that we are independent,” he said. “It also means that we do not answer to an Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople or any where else. A Ukrainian Church cannot be Ukrainian if it submits to someone.”
In Ukraine, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church has more than 1,100 parishes, 700 priests, two academies, three seminaries, and three monasteries. “We have a shortage of priests which speaks to our strong, constant growth.,” said the MetropolitanBishop Paul Peter is also a New York lawyer, former staffer to U.S. Senator Susan Collins, and by Appointment of Metropolitan Myfodii serves as Director of Public Affairs in the United States for the Kyiv Patriarchate of the UAOC.
