By Paul (Pavel) Liberman, Theologian
If the Ecumenical Patriarchate does not intervene promptly, the situation in Ukraine risks becoming a pawn in political games. Without violating the Tomos of Autocephaly and without unnecessary conflicts, the Ecumenical Patriarchate could mediate for a permanent resolution of the ecclesiastical crisis in Ukraine by establishing a temporary Exarchate to “house” that part of Metropolitan Onuphry’s flock which wishes to sever ties with Moscow definitively but refuses to join the officially recognized Church of the country.
The Ukrainian ecclesiastical issue is a point of division within the Orthodox Church and does not require political slogans, but rather the ecclesiastical discernment of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which bears the responsibility to safeguard the unity of the Orthodox Church. This is not about favoring one local side over another, but about the Patriarchate’s responsibility to preserve unity wherever the capacities of local mechanisms prove insufficient or have ceased to function.
Here naturally arises the idea of a temporary Exarchate under the “omophorion” of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, intended for that portion of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine which recognizes Metropolitan Onuphry as its primate, is ready to end canonical subordination to Moscow, but for objective reasons cannot yet join the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
Such a temporary Exarchate could become a means of bringing the procedural confrontation to an end, without creating competition with the existing Autocephalous Church in Ukraine and without revising the conditions set forth in the granted Tomos, but through the application of established ecclesiastical Canons, in a situation where an impartial arbiter is obliged to act in order to restore clear ecclesiological order.
Risk of Political Intervention Instead of Resolution Through Ecclesiastical Canons
In recent years, it has become evident that the internal frictions within Ukrainian Orthodoxy are fueled by mutual distrust, while local conflicts over churches and parishes multiply faster than genuine points of understanding. With Law 3894, the Ukrainian state exerts pressure on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (under Metropolitan Onuphry) to sever ties with the Moscow Patriarchate, effectively attempting to resolve an ecclesiastical issue through political means. This framework also proves convenient for external actors.
During peace negotiations aimed at ending the war, Russia has been promoting the idea of granting a “special status” to the structure subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate. One can easily assume that such provisions could be incorporated into the final terms of any peace agreements. However, these political formulas do not resolve the ecclesiastical problem; rather, they preserve parallel church structures indefinitely.
If the Ecumenical Patriarchate does not propose its own canonically grounded solution, there will arise a temptation to replace ecclesiastical healing with political arrangements. This is precisely what must be avoided and it is not only the right, but also the pastoral duty, of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to ensure it.
After the Tomos of Autocephaly: Full Autocephaly Achieved, But Unity Remains Elusive
The Great Council of 2018 at Saint Wisdom in Kyiv united a portion of the Orthodox faithful in Ukraine, who subsequently received the Tomos of Autocephaly. This created the conditions for overcoming division: some left the schism and formed an autocephalous Local Church, while others, rejecting the invitation and remaining under the Moscow Patriarchate, lost certain rights but continued as clergy of the Orthodox Church, remaining active in Ukraine.
Those who received the Tomos were entrusted with the mission of uniting Ukrainian Orthodoxy, yet the methods chosen often contradicted the spirit of Christian ethics and Orthodox ecclesiology. Autocephaly has been achieved and is irreversible but unity has not yet been realized. Therefore, the Ecumenical Patriarchate must now complete its mission: to contribute to the unity of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
Canon Law as an Instrument of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
The Ecumenical Patriarchate is called to safeguard unity whenever it is threatened. Within the Orthodox tradition, there exist clear mechanisms for this, the prerogatives of the Ecumenical Throne: the right to review appeals to the Patriarchate and to serve as the highest ecclesiastical court, the right of final appeal (ekklitos), as well as the right to establish Stauropegia and Exarchates (especially in Ukraine). These prerogatives do not impose foreign authority but ensure impartial review and pastoral oversight where local means have been exhausted.
These mechanisms have been established and reaffirmed in both the modern foundational documents of the Church and the State. The Tomos of Autocephaly for Ukraine preserved the right of appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarch and explicitly provided for the use of the aforementioned instruments, the acceptance of appeals and the creation of Stauropegia and Exarchates. The statutes of the new ecclesiastical structure in Ukraine recognize the precedence of the Tomos and the procedures of appeal to the Mother Church — the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Moreover, the agreement between Ukraine and the Ecumenical Patriarchate enshrines at the state level the provisions forming the basis of the Tomos.
Therefore, even from a formal standpoint, the establishment of a temporary Exarchate does not challenge the definitive act of Autocephaly but rather assists in its full implementation under difficult circumstances.
The Nature and Purpose of the Temporary Exarchate
The essence of the proposed solution to the problem is simple: the Exarchate would serve as a transitional space for those willing to voluntarily withdraw from the Moscow Patriarchate, those ready to definitively sever ties with Moscow but who, for objective, personal, or historical reasons, cannot recognize the authority of Metropolitan Epifaniy.
The purpose is clear: first, to achieve theoretical unity (mutual recognition and reconciliation) and practical unity (Eucharistic communion), and subsequently to establish institutional unity within Ukrainian Orthodoxy.
This Exarchate would provide pastoral oversight, ensure ecclesiastical discipline, harmonize educational standards, revise statutes, regulate cooperation in ministry where it does not cause conflict, and gradually heal long-standing wounds.
The proposed Exarchate is not intended as a permanent structure but as a temporary one, a framework that will cease to exist once it has fulfilled its mission.
Benefits for the Faithful, the Ukrainian State, and the Entire Orthodox World
Such a step would not diminish anyone. Those already ready to unite would continue on their path. Those who need time and guarantees would receive them without the risk of finding themselves “in schism” or “under persecution,” or becoming objects of political bargaining or reckless ecclesiastical sanctions.
For the state, this would mean fewer conflicts and transparent processes without interference in complex ecclesiological matters, something that would improve Ukraine’s image before international monitoring bodies overseeing religious freedom worldwide.
Already, concerns about Ukraine have been raised, and a negative trend has been observed. The USCIRF 2024 reports highlighted the risks of disproportionate application of the law in the field of religious freedom, while the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in December 2024, criticized certain legislative changes as potentially imposing excessive restrictions, urging Ukraine to align its legal practices with international standards.
Thus, such an initiative would greatly benefit global Orthodoxy and the Ecumenical Patriarchate itself. First, it would significantly reduce the harmful debates and polarization that have arisen around Ukrainian Autocephaly. At the same time, it would weaken Moscow’s efforts to undermine the primacy of the Ecumenical Throne.
The Principle of “No Coercion” as a Prerequisite for Mutual Trust
In 2018, particularly in the communiqué of the Holy Synod dated October 11, the inadmissibility of violence and coercion in regulating church life in Ukraine was clearly emphasized. Wherever administrative pressure replaces pastoral guidance, the result is formal “transfers” that divide communities, parts of which continue to exist separately and turn into irreconcilable opponents.
Where haste and stigmatization prevail, wounds emerge that drive some into a form of “resistance.”
All of this must be excluded from the process. The proposed Exarchate, by contrast, preserves the personal dignity of all sides and restores the process to a framework in which the only true measure of success is not statistical gain, but the restoration of the shared community of faith and life.
Why Action Is Needed Now: Responsibility and Consequences of Delay
Delaying the resolution of the Ukrainian ecclesiastical issue creates risks that will later be far more difficult, or even impossible, to resolve. If the problem is not addressed on an ecclesiastical basis, it will inevitably be settled according to the principle of political expediency. In that case, “special statuses” imposed for the purpose of instrumentalizing the Church could perpetuate division for decades.
Such an outcome would harm the entirety of global Orthodoxy: it would weaken mutual trust among the Churches, cause internal divisions within the Ancient Patriarchates and Autocephalous Churches, undermine the prerogatives and authority of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and restrict the possibility of convening Pan-Orthodox gatherings.
Most importantly, it would abandon thousands of faithful who are ready to step out from Moscow’s influence but fear losing their ecclesiastical legitimacy.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate has always acted in such situations and must act now as well, not as a party to the conflict, but as the guardian of unity and order in the service of peace.
A Technical Framework for Implementation Without Politicization
Technically, this can be done carefully and simply. The Ecumenical Patriarch would define the principles of the temporary Exarchate: voluntary participation, timeframes, rules of interaction with the already existing local Church in Ukraine, mechanisms of ecclesiological and disciplinary oversight, and regulations for resolving property issues strictly through legal means.
To begin, for those already ready to sever ties with the Moscow Patriarchate and who are unquestionably worthy, pilot structures could be established under direct supervision, with the status of temporary stavropegial institutions. Later, more dioceses with their administrative frameworks could seek Exarchate status. As mutual trust matures, a plan for integration would be developed — not on paper, but based on real communion. When the necessary criteria are met, the Exarchate would complete its mission, and unity would take on an institutional form.
This proposal does not challenge what has already been achieved, nor does it transfer the ecclesiastical issue onto a political level. Rather, it restores politics to its proper place: to guarantee conditions of safety and respect for freedom of conscience, without direct state interference in Church affairs.
Most importantly, it makes the exploitation of religion and the Church impossible. It produces no “winners or losers,” but creates a common space where the need for “special arrangements” and chaotic agreements that ignore ecclesiology and the Holy Canons disappears.
Unity is not a technical act, but a state of the Body of the Church. It cannot be achieved through haste or pressure. But it can be approached when the Ecumenical Throne assumes its responsibility to act as the First among equals (Protos) — not through command, but through discernment; not through power, but through peace; not through exclusion, but through care that brings all sides closer together.
The temporary Exarchate is a measured yet decisive step in this direction. If it is undertaken today, tomorrow we will speak less about “statuses” and more about the common Chalice. This is precisely the ministry the world expects today from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, a ministry that preserves unity not in theory, but in life.
Translated by: Konstantinos Menyktas
