EP Concelebrates With UAOC in Ukraine, Snubs UOC-MP

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Patriarchate of Constantinople hierarchs prayed together with canonically unrecognized bishop in Ukraine
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=1522

Moscow, June 5, Interfax - Two hierarchs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople prayed at Divine liturgy celebrated on Sunday by Archbishop Makary Maletich of Lvov. He is a hierarch of the unrecognized Ukrainian autocephalous Orthodox church (UAOC.)

An UAOC source reported Interfax on Monday that these were archbishop Vsevolod Maidansky who lives in Chicago and is a hierarch of the Ukrainian orthodox church of the USA under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and bishop Hilarion Rudnik charged by the Patriarchate of Constantinople to care for the Ukrainians living in Portugal and Spain.

‘According to the interviewee, representatives of the Patriarchate of Constantinople arrived in Ukraine to ‘develop brotherly elations’ with the UAOC. It is expected that a metochion (official representation) of the Patriarch of Constantinople will be opened in Lvov with the consent of city authorities in the immediate future.

The representation is to be opened in the Church of the Assumption seized by the UAOC representatives in 1989. It was a parish of the Moscow Patriarchate before the seizure. Archbishop Vsevolod and bishop Hilarion are going to celebrate a liturgy in this church and appoint archimandrite Philip its rector. Earlier he was rector of a UOC of the USA church in Indiana.

Archbishop Avgustin of Lvov and Galich of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) told an Interfax correspondent he was ‘embarrassed and staggered’ by the fact that guests from the Patriarchate of Constantinople had not found it pertinent to notify him as a canonical hierarch of the Lvov diocese about their visit, but instead ‘visited the schismatics and prayed at their service thus making an impression that the Church of Constantinople is in communion with a schismatic group rather than with the canonical Church recognized by the whole Orthodox world.’

‘Brothers ought not to behave like that. Moreover, this is an obvious violation of the holy canons of the Orthodox church,’ archbishop Avgustin said.

He further said that representatives of Constantinople had informed neither him, nor the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox church Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and all Ukraine about plans to open their official representation in the church seized by the UAOC representatives.

Archbishop Avgustin says it is not the first event of the kind. In 2000, archbishop Vsevolod Maidansky attended the funeral of the UAOC patriarch Dimitry Jarema and said funeral prayers. ‘However, archbishop Vsevolod asked my pardon,’ archbishop Avgustin remarked and added that ‘he reprimanded a Constantinopolitan hierarch for his uncanonical behaviour.’

In March 2005, archbishop Vsevolod met with the Ukrainian President Victor Yuschenko and said that the Patriarchate of Constantinople did not recognize Ukraine as a part of the canonical territory of the Moscow Patriarchate. The Patriarchate of Constantinople has neither confirmed, nor refuted this statement when inquired by the Moscow Patriarchate.

Last spring, the chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox church Archbishop Mitrofan of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky denounced ‘backstage deals’ of the Ukrainian political authorities with Constantinople and expressed his concern and anxiety about the visits to Ukraine of representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox church in the USA under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople, including archbishop Vsevolod Maidansky, ‘behind the back of the primate of the largest canonical Ukrainian Orthodox church’ Metropolitan Vladimir.

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Archbishop of Lvov complains against hierarchs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=1565

Lvov, June 15, Interfax - Archbishop Augustin of Lvov and Galich asked Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and all Ukraine to help with opposing the ‘anticanonical activity’ and ‘criminal moves’ on the territory of his diocese by archbishop Vsevolod (Maidansky) and bishop Hilarion (Rudnik), the hierarchs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople who have recently visited Lvov.

‘God is my witness, I have forgiven archbishop Vsevolod for many insults put upon me as a bishop of the Church of Christ by his actions in Lvov and the Lvov diocese, ‘ archbishop Augustin wrote in a letter, a copy of which Interfax received on Thursday.

However, the recent actions of the Chicago-based hierarch of the Patriarchate of Constantinople (archbishop Vsevolod - IF) ‘have been aimed not against me personally, but against the entire Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) that is a part of world Orthodoxy,’ the letter says further.

Archbishop of Lvov considers it his duty to ‘make known the lawlessness acts committed by bishops Vsevolod and Hilarion’ and asserts that their behavior ‘tempts the flock and directly hurts the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.’

Archbishop reports that representatives of the Patriarchate of Constantinople arrived in Lvov earlier last March and ‘in violating the canons, contacted schismatics - representatives of the so called Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC), which is not recognized in the Orthodox world.’ They have not informed either the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Vladimir, or the ruling bishop of the Lvov diocese about their arrival.

They performed acts that ‘could have been expected of a schismatic, a sectarian or any other enemy of Orthodoxy, but never of the brothers - hierarchs of the holy church of Constantinople.’ They visited the church of the Assumption in Lvov occupied by the adherents of the UAOC, where ‘they not only prayed and celebrated a prayer service together with schismatics (for this action alone they should be defrocked according to the canons), but, as we have learned from reliable sources, were preparing to celebrate Divine liturgy in this church on June 6,’ archbishop Augustin writes.

He thinks that ‘archbishop Vsevolod and bishop Hilarion gave up their intention only because it had been made public.’ They were also going ‘to open a representation of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in this church. This move can be considered as an irresponsible and glaring disregard of the canons of the Orthodox church.’

The UOC bishop believes that the ‘lawless contacts with schismatics help flaring up the ecclesiastical schism in Ukraine rather than overcoming it.’

The letter also contains doubts in the sincere behavior of the Church of Constantinople, since some of its hierarchs recognize the UOC as the only Orthodox Church in Ukraine, as archbishop Gregorios of Thyateria and Great Britain said, when representing Patriarch Bartholomew at the celebration of the 70th birthday of Metropolitan Vladimir last November,’ while the others ‘have direct contacts with schismatics.’

Archbishop Augustin demands that the behavior of archbishop Vsevolod and bishop Hilarion in Ukraine should be considered by the UOC Synod, which ought to demand investigation of their actions in Ukraine and bringing them to church trial.’