After many months of waiting and much speculation, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will receive independence from Moscow on Jan. 6 — Christmas Eve in Ukrainian Orthodox Christianity — according to Yevstratiy Zorya, archbishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate.
On Dec. 15, the church will hold a Unification Council in Kyiv’s Saint Sophia Cathedral, where representatives of the country’s three Orthodox Churches — the Kyiv Patriarchate, the Moscow Patriarchate, and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church — will elect a new patriarch, Zorya said in a Dec. 13 statement to the media outside the Kyiv Patriarchate Chancellery.
The new patriarch will be selected behind closed doors by a unanimous vote, and the council will also adopt the statute of the newly formed church, the archbishop said.
If the election goes as planned, the newly elected Patriarch of Ukraine will hold a joint mass with Archbishop Bartholomew, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, at St. George’s Cathedral in Istanbul and receive a Tomos of Autocephaly, the document conferring church independence.
“Tomos from the Ecumenical Patriarch, according to our information, will be given to the primate of the new Ukrainian church on Jan. 6, when we celebrate Christmas Eve and the Constantinople Patriarchate celebrates Epiphany,” Zorya said.
On Oct. 11, the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople supported the idea of granting independence to the Ukrainian Church. The Synod removed the anathema from Filaret, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, and Makariy, the head of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.
But the Synod’s move to recognize the Ukrainian Church created tensions between the Constantinople Church and the Russian Orthodox Church. The Moscow Patriarchate ultimately decided to cancel Eucharistic communion with Constantinople.
The Russian Orthodox Church, together with its Ukrainian subdivision, stated that they oppose Ukrainian church independence and will not attend the Unification Council. However, some Moscow Patriarchate clergy will take part.
The Russian Orthodox Church said it forbids its believers and bishops from taking part in prayers and liturgies conducted in Constantinople Patriarchate churches and cathedrals until the Ecumenical Patriarchate denounces its decision on Ukraine.
On Nov. 13, The Moscow backed Ukrainian church issued a 13-point statement, in which it declared itself the only legal Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
