Patriarch Dymytrii's visit to U.S. aimed at strengthening ties among Orthodox (01/31/99)

Patriarch Dymytrii's visit to U.S. aimed at strengthening ties among Orthodox

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - A visit to the United States by Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) Patriarch Dymytrii at the end of 1998 has produced agreement with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. to strengthen frayed ties and to work toward a united Ukrainian Orthodox Church, according to the Kyiv-based primate.

"The specific matter that we discussed was a request that they [UOC-U.S.A.] develop a discussion with the center in Constantinople that it turn its face toward Ukraine, that it stop looking at Ukraine through the eyes of Moscow's politics, and that it take the Ukrainian Church under its spiritual omophorion," said Patriarch Dymytrii in an interview with The Weekly after his return.

Patriarch Dymytrii visited the U.S. between December 28, 1998, and January 4. During that time he held several meetings with UOC-U.S.A. Metropolitan Constantine, Archbishop Antony and the UOC-U.S.A. laity in South Bound Brook, N.J., headquarters of the UOC-U.S.A., regarding the controversy surrounding the U.S. Church's decision to unite with Constantinople and the strife within the divided Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

Leaders of the two Churches decided, as a result of their meetings, on a program of cooperation that includes the opening of a representative office of the UOC-U.S.A. in Kyiv in the form of a center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The office is to become a force for the integration of the various Ukrainian Orthodox Churches. They also decided "to work to have the ecumenical patriarch in Constantinople assure the Ukrainian episcopate of a more attentive and disposed attitude by Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew towards a clear-cut and unequivocal stand on the canonical independence of the Ukrainian Church from the Moscow Patriarchate," according to a UAOC press release.

In addition, the leaders of the two Churches agreed to continue the dialogue begun in South Bound Brook and to renew eucharistic communication as a precursor to eucharistic union of the UAOC with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and other independent Churches.

The UAOC press release called the initiative one that "could produce long-term ramifications for the entire Ukrainian Church and even for universal Orthodoxy in the event of a coordinated and all-encompassing effort toward the realization of our proposed program."

Today Ukrainian Orthodoxy in Ukraine is divided among three separate Churches: the UOC - Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) led by Patriarch Filaret, the newest and currently the most dynamic; the UOC - Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), led in Ukraine by Metropolitan Volodymyr Sabodan, which receives its orders from Moscow Patriarch Aleksei II and still retains the largest following although it is in decline; and the UAOC, which traces its roots to 1920 and the Church of Metropolitan Vasyl Lypkivskyi.

UAOC Patriarch Dymytrii heads what is now the smallest of the three Churches - one that has been decimated by defections to the UOC-KP since the death of Patriarch Mstyslav, the first leader of the Church after Ukraine's independence.

The UAOC has become increasingly diminished and ostracized as the UOC-KP and Patriarch Filaret have successfully maneuvered to gain legitimacy from the Ukrainian state and to woo bishops from the UAOC and the UOC-MP.

UAOC efforts to obtain a Patriarchal Chancery and a major church building in Kyiv as its headquarters, after its previous offices were seized by renegade UAOC bishops and given over to the UOC-KP, have not been successful. Recently, the newly rebuilt St. Michael's Golden-Domed Sobor, which the UAOC leadership had hoped would become its Church center, was handed over to the UOC-KP. The UAOC succeeded only in obtaining a building next door to the sobor, which now houses its administrative offices and a small chapel.

Patriarch Dymytrii and UAOC bishops have repeatedly blamed Patriarch Filaret, who has shown more political acumen with government authorities, and UOC-KP hierarchs, for stealing bishops and parishes and stymieing UAOC efforts to rebuild their disintegrating Church.

The UOC-U.S.A. has felt the influence of Patriarch Filaret in its parishes as well. After the UOC-U.S.A. Church leadership agreed to accept the omophor of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew allegedly assured Moscow Patriarchate Aleksei II that, as a result, efforts to seek the autonomy of the Ukrainian Church would no longer pose a problem for Moscow - comments that caused an outcry within the Ukrainian Orthodox community in the United States - several U.S. parishes quit the UOC-U.S.A. to join Patriarch Filaret's Church.

It appears that part of the reason for the church leaders' meeting in South Bound Brook, beyond the obvious attempt to rekindle a dialogue, was to develop an approach toward Patriarch Filaret, whose Church also has not been recognized by Constantinople as canonical, yet has convinced the Ukrainian government and many faithful that his is the only truly Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Patriarch Dymytrii explained that by visiting South Bound Brook he was able to show documents that prove Patriarch Filaret is not the heir to the patriarchal throne of the late Patriarch Mstyslav, whose death in 1993 took much of the vigor out of the UAOC.

"We told them about the illegal attempt to unite the UAOC with the newly formed UOC-KP during the June 1992 UOC-KP Sobor. I think they understood this, all the more so because [Yurii] Kryvolap turned over all the documents, a huge archive, on the basis of which they should be convinced that this is the truth, that we did not utter a single untruth."

Patriarch Dymytrii said he was pleased with the renewed dialogue with the UOC-U.S.A. and Metropolitan Constantine and Archbishop Antony, which he said had greatly diminished in the last years.

"For a long time, since the death of Patriarch Mstyslav, the two hierarchs - and not only they, but others as well - had turned their backs on the very serious situation of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, which was under pressure from the state apparatus," said Patriarch Dymytrii. "They even began to fraternize with Filaret. Now they have come to understand to what that would lead."

The UAOC leader admitted that his Church had failed to keep the Ukrainian diaspora informed about the facts regarding its battle for survival in Ukraine.

Patriarch Dymytrii said the UAOC now hopes that, through renewed contacts with the UOC-U.S.A., it can begin the process of achieving eucharistic union with Constantinople and eventually uniting the various Orthodox Churches of Ukraine into a single entity.

"The one thing we need is for Constantinople to remove the viewpoint that has been foisted on us, on Ukrainians, that we are an uncanonical Church," explained Patriarch Dymytrii.

He said the hope is that the UOC-U.S.A. can act as a mediator between Kyiv and Constantinople in the UAOC's bid for recognition by the historic seat of Orthodox Christianity. "We asked personally and hope that they help us in that matter; that we achieve Eucharistic relations with Constantinople."

The six-day visit by Patriarch Dymytrii, who was accompanied by the administrative head of the UAOC, Archbishop Ihor Isichenko, also included a trip to New York, during which the patriarch prayed at St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral, viewed exhibits at The Ukrainian Museum and met with officials of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the U.S., the Ukrainian Institute of America and the Ukrainian Orthodox Credit Union at their respective headquarters.

The UAOC leader also held discussions with Metropolitan Iziaslav of the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in the U.S.

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