Osipov comments on UOC Сouncil in Feofaniya

Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, theologian Alexei Osipov, said that nothing happened at the UOC Council that goes beyond normal relations between the Churches. He said this during a live broadcast on his YouTube channel on 29 May 2022.

"Judging from the reports that have been given in the official press, we can assume that nothing significant has happened. The UOC Council once again reminded us about the independence that was given to the Ukrainian Church by the ROC," Osipov said.

At the same time, the theologian pointed out that the concept of "autonomy" is not typical for the Church.

"There are no such terms in the canonical lexicon, there is autocephaly or autonomy, but in this case, these terms are not used. But the main thing is that no separation or rupture has occurred. <...> thanks to Metropolitan Onuphry and the episcopate of the Ukrainian Church nothing beyond normal relations happened," he said.

"The fact that the UOC has once again declared its independence is a good thing, it is natural, and there is nothing wrong with it.  The Polish Church – is it big? Or Czech and Slovak, how many bishops are there? Or Albanian – even autocephalous. But the Ukrainian Church has more than a hundred bishops, it can reasonably talk about its independence," the MDA professor said.

As reported, the Council of the UOC in Feofaniya held on 27 May 2022 declared full independence of the UOC.

Read also