KYIV (RISU) – On April 8, 2010, at the press conference Prospects of Establishing One National Church in New Political Conditions, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate, Patriarch Filaret, expressed his opinion that the unification of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) with Ukrainian Orthodox Church is quite possible and likely.
He believes, however, that it can happen only when the three branches of Ukrainian Orthodoxy—the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate, and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church—unite as one national church recognized by the world, reports Ukrinform.
According to the patriarch, today "good relations have been established between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church." He noted that there are quite powerful forces in the Greek Catholic environment which would like to unite with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
According to the hierarch, serious grounds for such unification must be ripe first of all among the believers of the UGCC.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Kyiv Patriarchate on Church unity
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Soooo...
ReplyDeleteThey would rather be Catholic than under the Patriarch of Moscow?
Isn't that how the Greek Catholic Church came to be in the first place?
I'm not sure what he thinks. Optimally, for him, there would be one patriarchate and it would be the venerable see of Kyiv. No idea what, if anything, big will be happening in the near future.
ReplyDeleteThat would be a much bigger deal than the American Orthodox unification, and actually have a big influence on it as well. Of course, it's all about someone giving up power, and nobody wants to do that, except maybe the pope. With the UGCC gone, he won't get as much flack about the celibacy issue.
ReplyDeleteWell, the UGCC isn't the only Catholic Church that allows married priests - most of them do. The issue with the discipline of priestly celibacy in the Latin Church is not so much being opposed by people who have a problem with the decision they have made as it is a desire by the media and liberal groups to have them conform to what they see as "normal." No church, Orthodox or Catholic, likes being pushed about by a group of people whose list of "rights" is ever growing while their roster of "responsibilities" is ever shrinking.
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