On 10 April 2024, this year’s first meeting of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was held under the presidency of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, at Kyiv’s Saint Panteleimon Convent in Feofaniia. Before the beginning of the meeting, the members of the Synod prayed at a Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts at the holy convent. The Information and Education Department of the UOC reports.
At the meeting of the Holy Synod, the issue of the current state of the observance of the rights to freedom of religion of the believers and religious organisations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was considered. In relation to their violation, the Synod decided to inform the Local Orthodox Churches, foreign countries, and international human rights organisations about the matter.
The members of the Synod reiterated that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was a Church of Christ, which was self-reliant and independent in her administration and which covered the boundaries of the Ukrainian State with her pastoral responsibility. It was also stressed that starting from 1990, the guiding centre of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had been located in the city of Kyiv.
In addition, the Synod adopted the text of its Statement, wherein the position of the Church concerning the violation of the rights to freedom of religion of the faithful and religious organisations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is expressed. In particular, it is emphasised in the Statement that hierarchs, priests, and laymen of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are subjected to criminal prosecution on trumped-up charges. Churches and other property are taken away, and religious communities are unlawfully re-registered into the newly-formed Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Nearly a thousand and a half churches have already been seized to date. Local self-governments take unlawful decisions to ban the use of property by religious organisations of our Church.
Special concern exists over draft law No. 8371 (‘The Law of Ukraine on amending certain Ukrainian legislation regarding the activities of religious organisations in Ukraine’), initiated by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Under the pretext of protecting national security, its rules are aimed not only at closing down the Ukrainian Orthodox Church but also at violating the fundamental right to freedom of religion, guaranteed by the state for its every citizen.
The Holy Synod believers that this draft law will encourage the incitement of religious enmity and intolerance. Moreover, the draft law infringes the principle of the autonomy of a religious community and is aimed at interfering in the internal activities of religious organisations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. With regard thereto, the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church calls upon the people’s deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine not to adopt this draft law.
In response to reports from diocesan bishops, the Holy Synod has established the Monastery of the Icon of the Mother of God ‘The Quick Hearer’ in the village of Babai, Kharkiv Diocese, appointed the abbot of this monastery, and opened the Holy Trinity Convent in the village of Bukivtsiovo, Mukachevo Diocese.
The abbots of monasteries in the Mohyliv-Podilskyi Diocese have also been appointed, namely the abbot of Saint Nicholas Monastery in the city of Sharhorod and the abbot of the Monastery of the Holy and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord in the Valley of Crosses.
A precentors’ and catechists’ school at the Convent of the Tykhvin Icon of the Mother of God in the city of Dnipro has been founded, and its rector has been appointed.
The following texts have been approved for liturgical use in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church:
the texts of the Service and an Akathist to the Hieromartyr Daniel of Cherkasy,
as well as the texts of the Services to Righteous Stephen I, King of Hungary; Saint Sylvester, Bishop of Kaniv; and the Hieromartyr Alexander Hlaholiev, priest.
At the end of the meeting, the Holy Synod elected new bishops:
Archimandrite Clement (Shmyhelskyi), Abbot of Kyiv’s Desiatynnyi Monastery of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, was elected Bishop of Borova, a vicar of the Kyiv Metropolis;
Archimandrite Alipiy (Tsushko), a clergyman of the Odesa Diocese, was elected Bishop of Tarutyne, a vicar of the Odesa Diocese.
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