Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine Epifaniy says there are four Local Churches that could further recognize the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. In an interview with Liga.net, the head of the OCU named these churches: Romanian, Georgian, Bulgarian, and Albanian.
Metropolitan Epifaniy believes that the visit of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew could accelerate the process of OCU recognition by these Churches.
“This is a signal, first of all, that Ukraine is the canonical territory of the Ukrainian church. The Ecumenical Patriarch is coming as our brother. He is the first among equals. He is coming at the invitation of the Ukrainian state and the OCU, to the canonical territory of the Ukrainian church. That is why the ROC protests so much… Perhaps this will give impetus to our recognition by other churches. Many have already decided on this. But it takes time,” said the head of the Ukrainian Church.
He added that in every church there are supporters of the ROC, and in Ukraine as well. “Some supporters of the ROC in Ukraine even sit in government offices. So the church has such people in it, too. They have been working [to make this happen] for centuries,” the metropolitan said.
According to a spokesman for the OCU, Archbishop Yevstratiy, one of the central tasks, not only of the ROC but also of the Russian state, church, and “fringe” diplomacy, is to prevent OCU from being recognized by those who are yet to do so, as well as to compromise the already sealed recognition cases.
“It’s about creating problems. A clear example is Cyprus, where several pro-Russian metropolitans, who received enormous assistance from Russia for the restoration of their temples, had sabotaged recognition. And when it did happen, they started protesting,” says Yevstratiy.
