HISTORY OF UAOC

The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church is the successor of the Kyivan Metropolitanate, founded after christening of Kyiv Rus in 988 under Saint Prince Volodymyr Grand. The territory of today's Ukraine, Byelorussia, Baltic countries, part of Poland, Smolensk region (Russia) belonged to the Kyiv Metropolitanate.

The Kyiv Metropolitanate was a component part of the Constantinople Patriarchy from 988 to 1686 when it was illegally, not according to the terms of church canons withdrawn from Constantinople and became part of the Moscow patriarchy. The Constantinople Ecumenical Patriarch does not recognize this joining till nowadays.

Up to joining of the Kyiv Metropolitanate to the Moscow Patriarchy in the time of Kyiv metropolitan Petro Mohyla the Kyiv Metropoliatanate enjoyed the rights of wide autonomy and the question about establishing the Kyiv Patriarchy was also raised at that time. But this intention was not realized because of the fact that in 1654 in the time of Bohdan Khmelnitsky Ukraine was gradually joined to Russia.

At the beginning of XX century together with the struggle for the Ukrainian statehood, the movement for the autocephality of UOC begun.

During the World War II, the rebirth of the canonical branch of UAOC took place. It received the Autonomy from Dionisiy Valedynskyi, the Metropolitan of Polish Orthodox Church, which in 1924 received the status of autocephality from Ecumenical Patriarch Gregorios VII.

Metropolitan Dionisiy was elevated into the Bishop dignity in 1913 by Gregorios IV, the Patriarch of Antioch, who had the ordination in the lineage of Apostle Peter.

In 1932, Metropolitan Dionisiy ordained Metropolitan Polikarp Sikorskyi and in 1942 appointed him to the occupied by the fascists Ukraine for the renewing of UAOC and ordination of new bishops. Thus, all the hierarchy of UAOC in 1942 received the canonical ordinations of Bishops in the lineage of Apostle Peter. Among the ordained into Bishops were the deceased Patriarch Mstyslav Skrypnyk and Metropolitan Hryhoriy Ohiychuk, from whom arose the canonical ordination of Patriarch Moses.

The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew recognizes the canonicity of UAOC. The evidence of that is the fact of taking under his omophorion the Bishops and the clergy of UAOC in the USA and Canada in the present dignities.

After the end of the World War II in 1945 the UAOC in Ukraine was liquidated by the Soviet power. Some Bishops and the clergy of UAOC were delivered to the German concentration camps and some managed to emigrate to Europe and America, where they continued their church life and built the churches of UAOC.

In 1990 after the celebration of the 1000-anniversary of Rus-Ukraine Christening in Ukraine the new movement for rebirth of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church began. It was initiated by Metropolitan Ioann Bondarchuk and in the central Ukraine, in April of 1990 the rebirth of the UAOC was initiated by archpriest Oleh Koulik, who organized about 200 religious communities of the UAOC being the Metropolitan administrator for Khmelnytskyi, Vinnytsa and Zhytomyr regions.

On the 5-6th of June, the All-Ukrainian Orthodox Council was held in Kyiv where more than 700 delegates from the whole Ukraine took part, among them there were 7 bishops and more than 200 priests. The Council declared the fact of establishing the UAOC and elected Metropolitan Mstyslav (Skrypnyk), who had the episcopal lineage from Polish Orthodox Church, to be the Patriarch of Kyiv and all Ukraine.

On the 2nd of October, 1990 the authorities of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic registered the UAOC in the official order.

On the 18th of November, 1990 in St. Sophia's Cathedral Metropolitan Mstyslav was enthroned into the Patriarch of Kyiv and all Ukraine.

Since that time Patriarch Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) has not only become the first Patriarch but he united the UAOC in Ukraine with the UOC in the USA and the Diaspora that had the canonical lineage from Polish Orthodox Church. Since that time the higher orders of clergy and priesthood of the UOC in the USA began to come to Ukraine, officiate in Ukrainian temples, take part in ordaining the priests. Patriarch Mstyslav together with Bishop of Washington Antoniy (Shcherba ) consecrated Antoniy (Fialko) for bishop of Khmelnitsk and Panteleymon for bishop of Dnipropetrovsk, but those canonically ordained Bishops were lured away by Russian Orthodox Church that left UAOC in Ukraine without the canonical Bishops but with the anathematized Filaret Denysenko, the former Metropolitan of ROC.

Since that time the canonical ordination lineage in the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church disappeared.

On the 25th -26th of June, 1992, in Kyiv at the residence of Metropolitan Filaret, the betrayal of the UAO Church on the part of the Metropolitan administrator Antony (Masendych) took place. He acted behind the back of Patriarch Mstyslav and all the clergy. The Philaret's money seduced him into supporting the initiative of President Leonid Kravchuk as for the fake union of UAOC and ROC. Having accomplished their task in this combination, they proved out to be needless on the Filaret's way, who tried to became a "patriarch" in the illegally founded by him organization under the name of UOC KP (Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Kyivan Patriarchate). The betrayal of Antony Masendych and Volodymyr Romaniuk cost them their lives.

Patriarch of the UAOC Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) did not accept this treason of the UAOC and appealed to the Ukrainian higher authorities and believers of the UAOC not to acknowledge this unification and to oppose this betrayal everyway. But the higher authorities of Ukraine supported the anathematized Filaret Denysenko and illegally handed down all the church property of the UAOC under Filaret Denysenko.

On the 11th of June, 1993 Patriarch of Kyiv and all Ukraine Mstyslav died. Before death, Patriarch considering himself and the UAOC betrayed declared his will that the UAOC couldn't have any relation to the former metropolitan of the ROC Filaret Denysenko who was defrocked by his mother Church.

20th of October, 1993, was the date, appointed by Philaret's "Synod", for summoning of the UOC KP Council with the aim of electing the Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine. But despite all the energies of Philaret to become a "patriarch", he wasn't elected to. The new "patriarch" was Volodymyr Romaniuk. It contributed to the conflict growth between the "patriarch" Volodymyr and Philaret.

On the 14th of July, 1995 Patriarch Volodymyr (Romaniuk) was killed since he had already fulfilled his function of the cover for Filaret. The funeral of Volodymyr (Romaniuk) was tragic. History, probably, does not know such humiliation over funeral procession, as even here Philaret provoked the law-enforcement agencies into initiating the bloody conflict, trying to make his way towards the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv with the help of the coffin of Volodymyr Romaniuk.

In 2002, God blessed the returning to Ukraine of the canonically ordained hierarch Moses, the Metropolitan of UAOC-canonical lineage of Polish Orthodox Church.

UAOC canonical is the canonical successor of the Kyivan Rus Metropolitanate of the millenary christening of Rus-Ukraine and has the very direct relation to the Tomos of autocephaly of 1924 granted by the Ecumenical Patriarch Gregorios VII on the canonical basis of the historical inhering to the Kyivan Rus Metropolitanate.

By the decision of the Holy Synod of UAOC in Diaspora, the mission to renew the force of the Tomos of 1924 for the UAOC in Ukraine is entrusted to canonically ordained His Eminence Moses (Koulik), Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Rus-Ukraine.

On 17th-18th of June, 2005, by the decision of the Holy Synod and by the decision of the Ecumenical Bishop's Council of UAOC-canonical, under the action of the Holy Spirit and by the will of Heavenly Father, Metropolitan Moses was elected and enthroned into the dignity of Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine. 12 Hierarchs, the clergy and the hundreds of the faithful from all over the world took part in the Holy Council.

The enthronement took place on the Feast of the Holy Trinity in the orthodox sanctuary of the people of Ukraine, in the principal Temple of Ukraine - the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv.

Amen!