Politanalyst: position of Metropolitan Alexander Drabinko may lead to new church dissent

"The recent policy statement of the UOC Metropolitan Alexander Drabinko that the problem of the schism of Ukrainian Orthodoxy can be solved by finding the full independence of the church causes a lot of questions," said Andrei Vidishenko, a political analyst and member of the influential British analytical centre in the field of international relations Chatham House, commenting on the prospects of settlement of the church schism in Ukraine.

"First of all, if everything depended only on the factor of the church independence, there would be no problem at all in the religious sphere, according to a part of the Ukrainian society" , the expert believes. "All Orthodox denominations would simply join the UOC-Kiev Patriarchate, which since 1992 has been completely independent religious structure, although unrecognized by world canonical Orthodoxy.

Secondly, obtaining full independence from Moscow would not solve the question of overcoming the schism. After all, according to a recent officially declared position of the UOC-KP, the Kyiv Patriarchate, as opposed to the fullness of the Orthodox churches in the world, does not consider the Ukrainian Orthodox Church headed by Metropolitan Onufry canonical. As such, the UOC-KP will not join the UOC, whatever status the latter would have.

Thirdly, the outcome of the recent Council of Bishops of the Kyiv Patriarchate demonstrated that the church seas the only way to solve the problem of Ukrainian schism by returning to its ranks of "dissented" from it earlier UOC and UAOC. There cannot be any equal establishment of the Only Local Orthodox Church in this case. Assumed autocephaly of the UOC or the UAOC will not affect the present state of affairs. The Kyiv Patriarchate sees itself as the main platform for unification of Ukrainian Orthodoxy.

It is from that perspective that the idea promoted by Metropolitan Alexander looks at least questionable. Moreover, its implementation may lead not to overcoming the existing schism but to creation of a new one – this time in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church."

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