Metropolitan Hilarion: the choice of the Primate of the UOC-MP is its internal affair
Olga Lipich. The election of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) - it is an internal matter, and it will be decided on Wednesday in Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in the closed mode, but according to the Charter, the choice must be blessed by the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, said in an interview Last news the head of the Department for external Church relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk.
Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine Vladimir, who held the chair since 1992, died July 5, 2014. A new first Hierarch must choose on August 13, the Council of bishops of the UOC-MP, chaired by the vicar of the Kyiv Metropolitan Department of Metropolitan Chernivtsi and Bukovyna Onuphrius.
" The election of the Primate will be carried out in a closed mode, and valaisiana will be by secret ballot. What about the election process, it will determine the Cathedral itself, and now talk about it sooner. Anyway, the Election of the Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine - this is an internal issue of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, " said Metropolitan Hilarion.
According to the Charter, the Primate of the UOC shall elect the Council of bishops, in which the ruling bishops of all the dioceses of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and vicar bishops (helpers), heads of the Synodal institutions and the General Church educational institutions. Today more than 70 people.
maybe if the Election unpredictable specialists candidacy, As it was a year and a half ago in the Vatican, When the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church unexpectedly chose a Latin American cardinal, Bergoglio, the head of Department in advance cannot say and wants to present Cathedral " augmented wisdom " in the upcoming choice.
" According to the Charter, elected Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine shall take office after the blessing of his election from his Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, " said Metropolitan Hilarion.
According to him, self-governing Churches of the Moscow Patriarchate (and that is the status of the Ukrainian Church) was established relatively recently, and such a case that the Patriarch had to block a disastrous choice of the Cathedral, never happened." I hope this never happens, " wished the Commissioner of the Russian Orthodox Church.
According to the Statute of the Russian Orthodox Church canonical units have a degree of independence: self-governing Churches, independent Churches, exarchates, the Metropolitan district.
" In 1990, when the Russian Orthodox Church has provided the Ukrainian Exarchate of the status of self-governing Church, it was associated with the known political processes that led to the proclamation of Ukraine's independence, and was dictated by practical considerations for the development of Ukrainian Orthodoxy ", - explained the head of the Department. Similar events happened in those years and in other parts of the former Soviet republics of Moldova, Latvia, Estonia, they were also established self-governing Churches of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Metropolitan Hilarion noticed That " among all the self-governing Churches of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is the most extensive of rights ". As an example of the authorized ROC cited the fact That the decision about the establishment of new dioceses, as well As about the election of new bishops of the Ukrainian Church accepts absolutely their own, the Patriarch only informed about the decisions, but does not claim them.
" As the largest part of the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia, with many dioceses, the UOC has received additional rights of broad autonomy. How many times have witnessed the newly reposed his Beatitude Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine Vladimir, such status is optimal for the UOC, and he made all the necessary rules for its free development ", concluded the head of the Department.
|
