The Metropolitan of the UOC MP declared the Russian Federation an aggressor and supported autocephaly
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church must finally become independent, receiving equal status with other churches of world Orthodoxy.
Metropolitan of the UOC-MP Alexander Drabinko stated this in an interview with the Kraina magazine, answering the question why he supported the appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to grant Ukrainian autocephaly.
According to the Metropolitan, over the years of Ukrainian independence the church has matured to become independent.
“The start of the war was the last straw. Our spiritual center cannot be located on the territory of an aggressor country. Until now, we also had our own vision, but the war accelerated everything. The Ukrainian church must become a local and equal sister in the family of other churches,” Drabinko believes.
They also asked him how the future local church could gain control over the Pechersk and Pochaev Lavras.
“Both parishes and laurels must determine themselves. Nobody should take anything. The point is to convince the monks and nuns that this is a canonical church. There is no need to see them as potential enemies and Black Hundreds. There are many of our Ukrainian brothers who grew up in different regions of our country and gathered in monastic communities. We need to communicate and work with them,” the Metropolitan believes.
It is noteworthy that last year Drabinko received the order from the Primate of the UOC (MP), Metropolitan Onuphry.
As previously reported, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the Verkhovna Rada turned to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew with a request to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church.
As a result, in preparation for autocephaly, the Patriarchate of Constantinople sent two exarchs from the USA and Canada to Ukraine. In the Russian Orthodox Church such a decision called an invasion of canonical territory.
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