Representatives of the clergy of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) agreed on a "declaration of understanding" at a meeting held on July 5.
This was announced by the Rector of the Open Orthodox University of Saint Sophia-Wisdom, Georgy Kovalenko.
"WE, representatives of the clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, who have gathered in the walls of Saint Sophia for a dialogue about the prospects for the unity of Ukrainian Orthodoxy, striving for the unity in Christ, which He Himself wanted to see in His disciples and for which He prayed to the Father: " that they may be one, as we are one" (Jn. 17:22)," the declaration reads.
Thus, representatives of the clergy recognized the expediency and necessity of a constructive dialogue between the two branches of Ukrainian Orthodoxy, and also called on their hierarchs to start an official dialogue.
"We call on our hierarchs to start an official dialogue between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine before the Baptism of Kyivan Rus-Ukraine, which last year was designated as the Day of Ukrainian Statehood. This will be the best gift for this holiday both to the faithful of our churches and to the entire Ukrainian society," the document states.
According to Georgy Kovalenko, the declaration is open for signing and discussion by the clergy and believers of the OCU and UOC (MP).
- On May 12, the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) published a statement in which it noted that "the activities of the previous government and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine became one of the reasons for the military invasion of Ukraine."
- On May 13, the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience called it an incitement to enmity and a justification for war. Later, the Verkhovna Rada registered a draft law banning the Moscow Patriarchate on the territory of Ukraine.
- The Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epiphany of Kyiv, appealed to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal with a request to immediately provide one of the temples on the territory of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra for the services of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.