People are increasingly asking about the current status of the Russian Orthodox Church of Ukraine (UOC MP). Given the fact that the clergy of the above-mentioned organization publicly lies to believers who turn to them with a similar question, one should understand the elementary principles of the formation of a new autocephalous Church.
Ask the priest of the Moscow Patriarchate this question: If the Russian Orthodox Church now considers itself an autocephalous Church, then:
- who gave the Russian Orthodox Church autocephaly?
- where is their Tomos of autocephaly?
- which of the Local Churches recognized their autocephaly?
- which of the Local Churches put the name of their primate into the Diptych and commemorates him during services?
If there is no clear and positive answer to the said questions, then:
- ROCVU is not an autocephalous Church, but remains a part of ROC MP.
or
2. The Russian Orthodox Church self-proclaimed “autocephaly” and thus fell into a split with world Orthodoxy.
For the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church of Ukraine, who are not ashamed to lie to their own parishioners that their organization is autocephalous, let them remember the words of the Holy Scripture: “Lying lips are abomination to the Lord…” (Proverbs 12:22).
