Vice-Rector of KDAiS explains if UOC could change its Statute at Council

After the decisions of the UOC Council, the Vice-Rector of the Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary (KDAiS), Professor Vladimir Bureha, explained that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had the right to change its Statute without the need to coordinate it with the Russian Orthodox Church since it gained broad autonomy status, lb.ua writes.

"The UOC received its independence and self-government status in 1990 from the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). And then the Statute was created, on the basis of which the UOC is governed. <...> Neither in the resolution of the Bishops' Council of the ROC on granting the Ukrainian Church self-governing status, nor in the Letter received by the then Metropolitan Filaret (Denisenko) of Kyiv from Patriarch Alexy of Moscow, nor in the then Statute on the governance of the UOC there is any word that the Russian Orthodox Church should influence in any way on the development and approval of the Statute of the UOC," Professor Bureha said.

He explained that the first version of the Statute on the governance of the UOC was adopted by the Council of Bishops of the UOC and approved in October-November 1990, and this Statute was not approved in Moscow. "It came into force immediately after approval in Kyiv," stressed the KDAiS professor.

The Vice-Rector noted that the UOC Statute was first edited on May 27, 1992, at the Council of Bishops of the UOC in Kharkiv. The Statute was amended to allow the election of Metropolitan Vladimir (Sabodan).

"The Kharkiv Council changed the Statute on the government of the UOC and immediately held an election of the new Primate already on the basis of the edited Statute. On the same day (May 27, 1992) Patriarch Alexy of Moscow issued a Letter blessing newly-elected Metropolitan Vladimir for primate ministry in the UOC," says Professor Bureha. He also noted that "by blessing the newly elected Metropolitan of Kyiv, Patriarch Alexy implicitly acknowledged the right of the UOC to edit its Statute independently."

"Despite the fact that the UOC did not have autocephalous status, from the very beginning of its self-governing existence it was able to secure the right to independently create and edit its own Statute. In the early 1990s, the Moscow Patriarchate apparently had no objections to this. Only in 2000, when a new version of the ROC Statute was adopted in Moscow, there was a provision that the UOC Statute must still be approved by the Moscow Patriarch," Bureha said.

"A new chapter in this history began in December 2007. Then the UOC Council of Bishops adopted numerous amendments and additions to the UOC Statute on the government of the UOC," the professor continued. “But the updated text of the Statute was not submitted for approval to the Patriarch of Moscow. Moreover, without coordination with Moscow, the new wording of the UOC Statute was submitted for registration to the Ukrainian state authorities.

Bureha said that the reaction of the ROC to these decisions of the UOC was stronger: "On June 24, 2008, Moscow Patriarch Alexy in his report at the Council of Bishops of the ROC said that the new version of the UOC Statute should be presented to the Holy Synod of the ROC with subsequent approval by the Moscow Patriarch. Furthermore, the Patriarch expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the edited Statute of the UOC was registered in Ukrainian state bodies without preliminary approval in Moscow".

In response, the State Committee of Ukraine for Nationalities and Religions accused employees of the Moscow Patriarchate who prepared the report to the Patriarch of "professional incompetence”.

The KDAiS professor recalled that despite Moscow's demands, the UOC never submitted its Statute to the Russian Orthodox Church for approval. The following amendments to the Statute made in 2011 had the same fate. Although a special commission was set up in the ROC to review and accept the amendments to the UOC Statute in order to ease some tension between the Churches, its work has never started.

"If I am not mistaken, the "statutory commission" held only one meeting in March 2012 and did not bother to formulate any proposals to change the Statute. As a result, the Statute remained in the 2007 edition," the Vice-Recor said.

"Despite the fact that the UOC did not have autocephalous status, from the very beginning of its self-governing existence, it was able to secure the right to independently create and edit its own statute," Bureha concluded.

As reported, the head of the DECR MP Metropolitan Hilarion believes that the UOC Council confirmed the 1990 Letter of Patriarch Aleksy.

Read also