“The head of the UGCC expressed his understanding that the priority for the OCU now could be “uniting the Orthodox in Ukraine among themselves””, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“We would really like it to start. And that’s why from the first moment of the Unification Council (OCU), which took place in St. Sophia, the granting of the tomos. We were the first to extend our hand. We want this communication, this dialogue and we are working on it,” said the leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics.
“Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, there has been a so-called mixed Orthodox-Catholic theological commission for many years, which conducts this ecumenical dialogue, tries step by step to decide whether to agree on positions on a number of dogmatic issues, canonical issues, and so on. Many of those agreements are not even known in Ukraine,” adds the head of the UGCC.
He expressed his understanding that the priority for the OCU now could be “uniting the Orthodox in Ukraine among themselves.”
“It is very important that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which today is in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, is gradually recognized by all other local Orthodox churches. I think that this is very important today for our Orthodox brothers,” the head of the UGCC emphasized.
In December 2022, the heads of the UGCC and OCU, His Beatitude Sviatoslav and Metropolitan Epiphany, discussed the possibility of creating a joint working group to study the reform of the church calendar. This initiative is aimed at coordinating the transition to the new calendar in the context of preparations for the commemoration of the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, which will be celebrated in 2025.
In October 2024, His Beatitude Svyatoslav paid an official visit to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, during which issues of ecumenical dialogue and cooperation were discussed. A manifestation of the ecumenical dialogue was the fact that on December 24, 2024, seminarians of the UGCC and OCU for the first time recorded a joint carol “New joy has become”.