Orthodox Churches seek dialogue despite differing Patriarchates

The meeting was organised by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DSESS) and the “Sofia Kyivska” National Reserve, Df.news writes. It took place on the territory of St. Sophia of Kyiv.

It was the first time in history that clergy from both Orthodox Churches in Ukraine met. There has been much friction between the two denominations, as the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is part of the Moscow Patriarchate, which does not recognise the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is part of the Constantinople Patriarchate. Recently, the Russo-Ukrainian War enlarged the gap between the two churches. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church sometimes accuses its counterpart of collaborating with the occupier.

The purpose of the recent meeting was to bring the clergy of both denominations together and “build the common home – Ukraine – together”, as Olena Bohdan, head of the DSESS, said.

OCU Priest Oleksandr Kovalenko stated that the priests “asked God for wisdom to develop the Kyiv Church, wisdom to overcome the divisions that exist, to serve God and the people of Ukraine.”

Also, UOC priest Serhiy Prokopchuk stressed the similarities between the two denominations: “We are Ukrainians. We are Orthodox. Today we gathered to find common ground between the clergy of the UOC and the OCU.” He added that the meeting participants want peace and understanding to prevail in the communities.

OCU priest Mykhail Omelyan even seemed to hint that this was not the last meeting between the clergy. “We believe that in the future, this meeting and our next meetings will be crowned with success”, he said, according to DF.news.