On December 20, 2022, the final meeting of the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (in unity with the Moscow Patriarchate) was held via video conference. The Spiritual Front of Ukraine learned about the details of the meeting from own sources.
One of the hierarchs – members of the Synod – offered to put several motions to the vote.
The first one was to vote by a show of hands for the expulsion from the UOC (MP) of Metropolitan Lazar of Simferopol and Crimea, as well as Metropolitan Arkadiy of Rovenky and Sverdlovsk.
In the second vote, it was proposed not to approve the appeal to the president on sanction-lift and unblocking the operations of religious organizations, but instead, to create a non-public commission, which would have on board Metropolitan Onufriy of the UOC (MP). The commission should start negotiations with the President’s Office and other authorities on solving the issues of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (MP) and the state’s claims to the organization.
However, the Synod rejected both initiatives. Most of the hierarchs of the UOC (MP) refused to bring it up for consideration. Instead, the Synod adopted an appeal to the president regarding the inadmissibility of passing laws against the UOC (MP), which are currently under consideration in parliament.
In other words, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (MP) is not interested in cooperation with the authorities, not only on national issues, but also on its own ones.
In addition, judging by these decisions of the Synod, the leadership of the UOC (MP), in particular, Metropolitan Onufriy, has no plans to condemn collaborationism, both as a phenomenon in its classical broad sense and in the specific one. That is, the UOC (MP) is not ready to condemn and expel from its ranks even those hierarchs-collaborators who betrayed the UOC (MP) itself and became directly subordinated to Moscow Patriarch Kirill.
It should be recalled that the Simferopol and Crimean Diocese of the UOC (MP) declared that it does not agree with the adopted decisions on complete independence from the Moscow Patriarchate and declared that it remains under the omophorion of Kirill, that is, under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church that he heads.
Subsequently, the Rovenky Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (MP) also declared that it remains under the omophorion of the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church and stops commemorating Metropolitan Onufriy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (MP).
Recently, the Security Service of Ukraine published a complete list of persons who, according to the agency’s motion, were sanctioned by the National Security and Defense Council upon President Volodymyr Zelensky’s approval. In total, we are talking about 10 individuals, who are representatives of the UOC (MC) or are closely related to the organization. Most of them are currently based in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine or abroad.
