TORONTO, June 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

To read the full article, published May 30, click here: https://www.newpathway.ca/kyiv-trade-united-orthodox-church/

The Ukrainian Canadian news outlet New Pathway wonders if the Archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is ever going to seriously consider granting autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

     (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/518018/New_Pathway___Kyiv_Orthodox_Church.jpg )

In the detailed and rather emotional synopsis Oleksandr Yudin lists a number of grievances the Ukrainian Orthodox community has accumulated in the course of trying to form the united Ukrainian Orthodox Church, independent from the Moscow Patriarchate and recognized as such by Constantinople. The article depicts hardships and problems on the road to achieving their goal. Constant struggle with the powerful "Moscow lobby", six meetings Ukrainian officials held with the Patriarch of Constantinople in the first half of 2016, their offer to buy out the $10 million building in the historical center of Kyiv to accommodate the Representation of the Mother Church… So far all that has failed to bring any definitive results.

This January the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate has heard the report of a special commission set up after receiving the appeal of Ukrainian parliamentarians on this topic. As New Pathway's Oleksandr Yudin puts it, "the Holy Synod made a cunning and truly Byzantine decision: not to refuse Kyiv explicitly but not to take any serious steps forward either". Yet, "Kyiv does not lose heart and is ready to trade-off", notes the author, putting particular hope upon the Prime Minister of Ukraine  Volodymyr Groysman joining the talks with Constantinople.

SOURCE New Pathway