KDAiS teacher: Not a single Church called the situation in the UOC a schism
In official statements, neither the ROC nor other Local Churches call the situation in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church a schism, the KDAiS professor noted.
At the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, held on May 27, 2022, amendments to the Statute were adopted, which fixed the changed position of the UOC, but there can be no talk of any split, explains the head of the Department of Church and Practical Disciplines of the KDAiS historian Oleg Nad’.
The historian noted that after the Council of the UOC, some theologians started talking about a schism, but he considers such statements unfounded. “Not a single Local Church has called a schism (the situation with the UOC – Ed.),” he stressed. Oleg Nad’ called "the first and main evidence" the fact that the Russian Orthodox Church does not officially mention the word "schism" when speaking about the decisions of the Council. None of the meetings of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, which have already taken place several times since May 27, “has ever indicated that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is in schism,” recalled the head of the KDAiS department.
According to him, the essence of the amendments adopted at the Council was that “everything that concerns the ROC” was removed from the Statute of the UOC. “The Statute contained a fairly large number of paragraphs that directly related to the Russian Orthodox Church. Of all these paragraphs, one was left in the section, the first one, that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in addition to the Holy Scriptures, Tradition, dogmas, rules of the Local Councils, is governed by the Blessed Letter, which was issued by Patriarch Alexy II in 1990,” emphasized the KDAiS teacher. According to this Letter, "the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is self-governing and independent," he noted.
Currently, the Statute of the UOC has been submitted to state bodies for state registration, and the final version of its edition is unknown so far, Oleg Nad’ added.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that, according to Metropolitan Bogolep of Alexandria and Svitlovodsk, the Council in Feofaniya marked the beginning of a new stage in the life of the Church.
