OCU Creates Church Structure in Czech Republic, Violating Tomos

Dumenko and Bartholomew

BRNO — The Orthodox Church in Ukraine (OCU) has established the first “Chaplaincy Mission of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine” in the Czech Republic, thereby violating the Tomos of Autocephaly granted to it by the Ecumenical Patriarchate. 

A message appeared on social media regarding the establishment of this “chaplaincy,” which will operate in the city of Brno.The organizers present it as spiritual support for Ukrainian believers living in the Czech Republic, with the first liturgy planned for August 23.

However, the Tomos granted Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in 2019 states that the OCU does not have the right to establish parishes or church structures outside the territory of Ukraine. Rather, it stipulates that overseas parishes of the OCU fall under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the autocephalous Orthodox Church in the Czech Lands and Slovakia (OCCLS) operates as the only canonically recognized Orthodox Church in this territory. The OCCLS was granted autocephaly in 1951 by the Russian Orthodox Church; in 1998, the Ecumenical Patriarchate acknowledged this autocephaly.

Because the entire territory of the Czech Republic and Slovakia is ruled by a single jurisdiction, no other Orthodox structure can be established there without the knowledge and consent of OCCLS synod and/or its primate, Met. Rastislav of Presov.

It is also crucial that the Orthodox Church in the Czech Lands and Slovakia still does not recognize the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) as canonical, as is the case with most other local Orthodox churches. For this reason, any activity of the OCU in the canonical territory of the OCCLS is considered illegitimate.

The announcement of the so-called “chaplaincy mission” of the OCU states that its goal is to care for Ukrainian believers in the Czech Republic. At the same time, it must be added that the Orthodox Church in the Czech Lands and Slovakia has, since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, provided spiritual, material, and humanitarian support to Ukrainian refugees who have found shelter in the Czech Republic and Slovakia due to the war. The OCCLS has allowed for liturgies in to be celebrated in Ukrainian and even for Ukrainian-style chant to be used in its parishes. It has also provided charitable aid to refugees and to Ukraine itself.

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