OCU head prays for Pat. Kirill in "Hierarchical Liturgy" at St. Sophia’s
During the “Nativity Liturgy” at St. Sophia’s, “Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine” Epiphany commemorated the ROC Primate for the first time after the OCU creation.
On January 7, during the festive divine service at St. Sophia’s Cathedral of Kiev, the “head” of the OCU Epiphany (Dumenko) at the Grand Entrance, following the diptych of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, commemorated the Primates of all the Local Orthodox Churches, including the name of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.
The service was attended by President Poroshenko, who has repeatedly mentioned that churches where they pray for the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church cannot be called Ukrainian. In particular, on October 14, he said: “Can the churches where they pray for Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church, who in turn prays for the Russian army that kills Ukrainian soldiers and the civilian population, be called Ukrainian? I ask the flock and the faithful to this confession to think about this."
It should be noted that from the moment of the formation of the OCU and until the trip to Istanbul, the name of the Moscow Patriarch was not commemorated at the services of the newly-formed church structure.
As reported, a presentation of the Tomos on the autocephaly of the OCU took place at St. Sophia’s of Kiev. The signing ceremony for the Tomos took place on January 5 at the Patriarchal Church of St George in Istanbul. On January 6, 2019, the Tomos was given to the head of the OCU "Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine" Epiphany Dumenko.
