Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
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In 1921 a Synod created the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) in Kiev and ordained Metropolitan Vasyl (Lypkivsky) as its head. The UAOC was at that point independent of all other churches. It obtained its autocephalous status a few years later in 1924 when the Patriarch of Constantinople, Gregory VII issued a tomos re-establishing the Kievan Rus-Ukrainian Metropolitan diocese as an Autocephalous Church. The responsibility of establishing a new Synod of Bishops was given to the Metropolitan-Archbishop of Warsaw, Dionisij (Waledynskyj).
In wake of the break up of the Russian Empire this church sought autonomy from Moscow. As a result the Soviet government began to persecute the UAOC and the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) also prevented the UAOC from establishing their ecclesiastical order for some time. Between the wars the UAOC was tolerated by the ROC and it was allowed to exist on Ukrainian Soviet territory.
In 1941 the participants in a sobor of the UAOC decided to keep the Ukrainian Church in the German-occupied Ukraine in canonical dependence on the Moscow Patriarchate. Archbishop Oleksiy (Hromadsky) was declared to be the Metropolitan of this church which, confusingly, was called the "Autonomous Church"
On October 8, 1942 Archbishop Nikanor and Bishop Mstyslav of the UAOC and Metropolitan Oleksiy of the Autonomous Church entered into an Act of Union at the Pochaev Lavra uniting these two church hierarchies. German occupation authorities and pro-Russian hierarchs of the Autonomous Church convinced Metropolitan Oleksiy to withdraw his signature. Metropolitan Oleksiy was executed in Volynia on May 7, 1943 by UPA insurgents.
The Russian Orthodox Church regained its general monopoly after World War II in the Ukrainian SSR. Most of the other churches were forced out as the Soviet government only recognized the Moscow Patriarchate, revived at the time of the Russian Revolution, as the only legitimate church in most of the Soviet Union. Many accused it of being a puppet of the Communist Party. After the suspicious death of Tikhon of Moscow these autocephalic churches sought to remain independent; something that Moscow tolerated until after the war when many Ukrainian Orthodox clergy not affiliated with Moscow fled to Germany or the United States. The UAOC in Ukraine was then liquidated by the Soviets with the assistance of the Patriarchate of Moscow. Any UAOC hierarchs or clergy who remained in Ukraine and refused to join the Russian Church were executed or sent to concentration camps. A few years later the same thing happened to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Western Ukraine and Transcarpathia.
Regaining the recognition of the State in the late 1980s, the Church was initially ruled from abroad by Patriarch Mstyslav and then following his death in 1993 re-established itself as an independent church, following a brief union with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate.
Geographically the church operates almost exclusively in the western Galician provinces with only small support elsewhere. Formerly a number of parishes abroad in the Ukrainian emigre communities of Canada and the United States belonged to the UAOC, but most of these parishes eventually changed jurisdiction and were reorganised into the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA which are jurisdictions within the Ecumenical Patriarchate. There is a parish of the UAOC in Canberra, Australia.
[edit] References
Articles in Zerkalo Nedeli (Mirror Weekly), published in Kiev:
- "UAOC: the Chronicle of Feudal Wars", August 2003, in Ukrainian and in Russian
| Autocephalous and Autonomous Churches of Eastern Orthodoxy |
| Autocephalous Churches |
| Four Ancient Patriarchates: Constantinople | Alexandria | Antioch | Jerusalem Russia | Serbia | Romania | Bulgaria | Georgia Cyprus | Greece | Poland | Albania | Czechia and Slovakia | OCA* |
| Autonomous Churches |
| Sinai | Finland | Estonia* | Japan* | China* | Ukraine | Western Europe* | Bessarabia* | Moldova* | Ohrid* | ROCOR |
| The * designates a church whose autocephaly or autonomy is not universally recognized. |
