Ukrainian Orthodox synod meets while head is ill

(RISU) - A regular session of the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) was held on December 23 with the blessing of its head, Metropolitan Volodymyr, reported the website of the UOC-MP.

According to the Statutes of government of the UOC-MP, the session was chaired by a permanent member of the Holy Synod, Metropolitan Ahafangel (Sevvin) of Odesa and Izmail, whose term of bishop’s ministry is the longest.

The meeting was attended by Metropolitan Ioannikiy of Luhansk and Alchevsk, Metropolitan Onuphrius of Chernivtsi and Bukovyna, Metropolitan Ilarion of Donetsk and Mariupol, Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod and Chornobyl, Metropolitan Lazarus of Simferopol and Crimea, Archbishop Mytrofan of Bila Tserkva and Bohuslav, Archbishop Aleksander of Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi and Vyshneve, Archbishop Ambrosii of Chernihiv and Novgorod-Siverskyi, bishop Yelisey of Berdyansk and Prymorsk and bishop Nicodim of Zhytomyr and Novohrad-Volynskyy.

The Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church considered issues regarding the activity of the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Eparchy of Kyiv of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for the time of the illness of Metropolitan Volodymyr of Kyiv and All Ukraine.

To coordinate the financial and economic activities of the Kyiv Metropolitanate, the Holy Synod of the UOC set up an Auditing Commission, headed by Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod and Chornobyl.

The government of the Eparchy of Kyiv for the period of illness Metropolitan Volodymyr of Kyiv and All Ukraine was entrusted to the Commission which includes Archbishop Aleksander, Bishop Seraphim of Yahotyn, Bishop Panteleimon of Vasylkiv. The Commission is accountable to the chairman of the Holy Synod, Metropolitan Ahafangel of Odesa and Izmail.

The management of the current issues related to the activities of the Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary (KTAS) was entrusted to the rector of the KTAS Archbishop Anthonii of Boryspil. The management of current issues related to the life of the Kyiv cave Monastery was commissioned to the deputy abbot, Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod and Chornobyl. The abbots and abbesses of the stauropegial monasteries should coordinate all the current issues with the chairman of the Holy Synod of the UOC.

The Holy Synod of the UOC also considered and approved the activity of Synodal departments and institutions of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for 2011.

The next meeting of the Holy Synod is scheduled for January 26, 2012.