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17 October 2018, 10:12Metropolitan Alexander (Drabinko) who proclaimed himself Constantinople cleric says each Ukrainian orthodox bishop should choose whose side to belong
Kiev, October 17, Interfax - Parish and diocesan meetings and every particular church hierarch should answer the question of their possible conversion to a united local Ukrainian church, Metropolitan Alexander (Drabinko), a well-known hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, formerly the secretary of the late Metropolitan Vladimir (Sabodan) of Kiev and currently a vicar bishop of the Metropolitan of Kiev and the father superior of the Savior Transfiguration Cathedral, said.
"This process should be monitored by the entity that is an arbitrator for us - the Ecumenical Patriarchate [...] since the Synod of the Constantinople Patriarchate invalidated at its latest meeting the transfer of the Metropolitan of Kiev to the Moscow Patriarchate. From then on, we can assume that Ukrainian territory is a territory of the reinstated Metropolitan of the Constantinople Patriarchate. Since that moment [when the decision was issued], we all are now clerics of the Church of Constantinople," Metropolitan Alexander of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky and Vishnev said in an interview with Hromadske.TV, an online television channel.
"If we consider that today, the entirety of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of both Kiev and Moscow Patriarchates is part of the Church of Constantinople, then indeed, the name will have to be changed, we will have to name ourselves the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, in which I see nothing criminal," he said.
"To make sure that all is peaceful and well", every bishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has to hold a diocesan meeting, and the clergy should convene parish meetings in order to decide who wants to be part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and who wants to stay in submission to the Moscow Patriarchate, he said.
His choice as to whether to convert to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church or stay in the Moscow Patriarchate will be his personal decision and "remain the personal responsibility of the Master himself," Metropolitan Alexander said.
"As to what I will do and how: we will make our decision jointly at a parochial council after all our community comes to an opinion. Then, I will have my final vote," he said.
It was reported earlier that a well-known hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Alexander (Drabinko) presented himself as a cleric of the Constantinople Patriarchate.
On October 11, the Istanbul-based Synod invalidated its 1686 decree on the handover of the Metropolitanate of Kiev to Moscow and establishing of its mission to Kiev. It also rehabilitated the leaders of self-proclaimed Orthodox churches in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has rejected the decisions. In reaction to the moves by Constantinople, the Moscow Patriarchate itself held a meeting on October 15 to declare a total severing of ties with the Church of Constantinople. |
