ECUMENISM
Concrete steps for the reunification of the local Orthodox Church have been taken in recent days in Ukraine. The Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church dependent on the Patriarchate of Moscow declared it would like to detach itself from the control of Moscow, but to do so in a “canonical way” and form an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This could help the unification of the local Orthodox community, which has been divided into three different Orthodox Churches for over 17 years. The President of the Republic, Iushtcenko, has also intervened on the question, asking the other Ukrainian Orthodox Church, that of the Patriarchate of Kiev, not recognized by Moscow, to participate in a joint commission with representatives of both sides, to try to restore unity. This proposal, however, has aroused hostile reactions in both Orthodox Churches. A meeting of the Ukrainian metropolitans of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church dependent on Moscow was held in Kiev on 24 January; it declared that a reunification could only come about once “the schismatics” have repented. The Patriarchate of Kiev dismissed such an approach as offensive to its Church and as unacceptable. But at the same time it declared its readiness to enter into a constructive dialogue, without any demands for the admission of guilt. The question of the independent Russian Orthodox Church however remains open. The Orthodox Churches, according to canon law, are autocephalous, and so each nation usually has its own Church. But things became far more complicated when, in the course of historical convulsions, States changed their territories. This major problem was especially posed to the Orthodox countries of Eastern Europe after the fall of the Communist regime, with the decomposition of the Soviet Union and the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. The result is that there are now three Orthodox Churches in Ukraine: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Patriarchate of Moscow with some 10,000 parishes, the Orthodox Church of the Patriarchate of Kiev with 3,000 parishes and the autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church with 1,000 parishes. Macedonia and Montenegro, canonically dependent on the Patriarchate of Belgrade, find themselves in much the same situation.
