Theologian of UGCC: Unless we unite with OCU now, it will be a great sin

Priest of the UGCC Ivan Datsko. Photo: news.ugcc.ua

Unless we unite now, we will commit a great sin against our people, said Ivan Datsko, the UGCC priest, President of the Institute for Ecumenical Studies of the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU), at an ecumenical conference in Kyiv with the participation of representatives of the OCU.

“For two years so many positive changes have accumulated in the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and I say – in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in Ukrainian Orthodoxy, that if we, Ukrainians, Christians miss this opportunity, then we will commit a great sin against our church and people,” said Datsko.

He explained that under Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, “we have come so close that if not now, then – I don’t want to say it – never. We will be missing out on a huge opportunity."

“I wish we could restore full communion between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches until the 25th year. This is our main objective,” the Uniate priest said.

The UOJ wrote that the UGCC wants Catholics and Orthodox Christians to jointly elect a "Ukrainian patriarch".

As a reminder, on October 26, Kyiv hosted a conference “Catholic-Orthodox Documents and Their Reception in Ukraine”, at which representatives of the UGCC, Phanar and OCU discussed ways to unity.

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