Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv has extended an invitation to Metropolitan Onufry, leader of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate, for a dialogue “without preconditions.” In his letter, published on the Orthodox Church of Ukraine’s website, Metropolitan Epifaniy urged Metropolitan Onufry to engage in direct talks, emphasizing the need for unity and reconciliation within the Ukrainian Orthodox community.
Similar attempts had been made in the past, with Metropolitan Onufry’s side, however, setting conditions that the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine did not accept.
Metropolitan Epifaniy’s appeal is particularly significant as it follows his recent visit to the Phanar, where he met with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. This visit underscored the importance of resolving the ongoing division within the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which Epifaniy attributes to largely secular rather than ecclesiastical reasons.
In his letter, Metropolitan Epifaniy referenced the 2018 Unification Council in Kyiv, highlighting Metropolitan Onufry’s absence despite receiving a formal invitation. He expressed regret over this missed opportunity for unity and underscored the ongoing need for dialogue.
Metropolitan Epifaniy also condemned the doctrine of the “Russian world,” describing its consequences as “diabolical,” particularly in light of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine. He criticized Patriarch Kirill of Moscow for blessing the conflict, urging those who care about the Church’s well-being to distance themselves from such harmful ideologies.
Metropolitan Epifaniy made it clear that any dialogue with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under Metropolitan Onufry’s leadership must come without preconditions. He referenced past attempts at dialogue that were hindered by conditions set by Metropolitan Onufry, including a refusal to recognize the decisions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Epifaniy emphasized that the dialogue should follow the example set by the late Metropolitan Volodymyr of Kyiv and All Ukraine, who initially blessed such efforts before they were undermined by the Moscow Patriarchate. By calling for an open and unconditional discussion, Metropolitan Epifaniy seeks to rebuild bridges and promote unity within the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
Please read the letter of Metropolitan of Kyiv
Appeal to Metropolitan Onufriy with a call for a dialogue on unity
Metropolitan in Kyiv Onufriy
and all the hierarchs, clergy and laity who are with him
Bishops and fathers, brothers and sisters!
On the day of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, prayerfully relying on Her intercession, guidance and help in every good deed, I wish to renew my appeal on behalf of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine to You, Vladyka, to the hierarchs, clergy and faithful who recognise you as their Primate: for the good and establishment of the Orthodox Christian faith in Ukraine, for the sake of the Church of Christ, for the sake of protecting the truth from attempts to distort it, to immediately begin a dialogue.
For a long time, for various reasons, both church-related and largely external, worldly, the Orthodox Church in Ukraine has been divided.
For decades, the hierarchs, clergy and Ukrainian faithful have been persistently asking our Mother Church, the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople – the Ecumenical Patriarchate – for help and solutions to the problems. For only it, and no other institution, apart from, perhaps, the Ecumenical Council, which had not held its meetings for a long time, was able to change the mournful state of division and confrontation in which the Church of Ukraine lived.
And by the grace of God, in 2018, after many appeals and requests, due to the firm and canonically grounded, full of maternal love and sacrificial service decisions of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, all Orthodox Christians who had been unlawfully subjected to so-called excommunication and punishment by the ecclesiastical authorities of Moscow – all of them collectively were recognized as having the appropriate dignity and undeniably belonging to the fullness of the Church of Christ, having their own ministry in it.
On this firm basis, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew convened the Unification Council in St Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv on 15 December 2018, to which all Orthodox bishops had been invited, and about which each of them, including You, Vladyka, had been notified in writing.
The canonical rules stipulate that participation in the Council of the Church is not a right, but an obligation of the bishop. And being duly called, a bishop must attend the Council. Unfortunately, for various reasons, not all those called came.
However, canon law also stipulates that the absence of one of those called to the Council without a proper reason cannot be an obstacle to the Council’s work and decisions. This is exactly what happened with the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church in Crete, where some of those who had been called did not arrive, but this did not prevent its successful work.
On 15 December 2018, the Council in Saint Sophia adopted all the resolutions for which it had been convened and created a solid canonical basis for the unified Orthodox Church of Ukraine, as a Local Church, to receive, as it had requested and sought for many years, the Tomos of Autocephaly from His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
Canon law and order in general, as well as the Tomos in particular, stipulate that all Orthodox Church institutions within Ukraine should be in organisational and jurisdictional unity as one and only Local Orthodox Church. However, it is with great sorrow and pain that we all witness that, primarily because of the position of the Patriarchate of Moscow, some Orthodox Christians have not yet heard the call of unity directed to them and have not fulfilled this duty – to be united. But even among those Ukrainian Orthodox who are not yet in the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the number of those who want to achieve this unity is growing.
Meanwhile, according to the sign given to us by the Lord Himself, indicating that a tree is known by its fruit, the whole world knows that the Patriarchate of Moscow has been deeply poisoned by the pseudo-religious teachings of the ‘russian world’, the poisonous and deadly fruit of which has become Russia’s current terrible war against Ukraine. The war is devilish and godless, which the Patriarch of Moscow called sacred and blessed the Russian ruler and army for all the crimes they have committed and continue to commit on our land.
Hence, having already learnt in a clear and undeniable way that both the root and the fruit of the ‘russian world’ are evil, it should be clear to anyone who truly wishes to preserve the purity of Orthodoxy and who cares about the good of the Church that one should distance himself from this evil and have no connection with this darkness.
Consequently, firmly and steadfastly adhering to these principles, we address You again and again, Your Eminence, and all our Orthodox brothers and sisters, but first and foremost, bishops and priests, for they have a greater responsibility, as the Scriptures testify, to begin a dialogue on unity without preconditions.
We know that earlier on Your part You announced three requirements for such a dialogue, namely that we reject the decisions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and that we do not hear requests from those who make these decisions and wish to be united as the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
But for objective reasons beyond our control, we cannot agree to such demands, because they are contrary to the truth and would mean for us a renunciation of God, Who granted our hierarchs and clergy the grace of the priesthood, and of the Church of Christ, which benefited Ukraine through the hands and labours of the Ecumenical Patriarch.
We therefore lovingly ask You, and the hierarchs who are with You, to agree to begin our dialogue without preconditions. This is exactly how the dialogue, which was blessed and supported by Metropolitan Volodymyr of Kyiv and All Ukraine, and which was destroyed by the Patriarchate of Moscow, began without preconditions. May all those who truly cherish the memory of Metropolitan Volodymyr take him as an example.
So, never abandoning hope in God, in the intercession of the Virgin Mary and all the saints in overcoming church divisions, despite the fact that all our numerous previous appeals to You and those with you for dialogue have remained unanswered, I once again appeal to You, Vladyka, and to all those who are with You, and ask you not to leave this appeal, this hand outstretched to you, without a constructive response.
I make this appeal publicly, calling the fullness of Orthodoxy and the Ukrainian people as witnesses. May God bless this good deed with success!
With prayer for You
Epiphaniy,
Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine,
Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine
15 August 2024
