PRESS REALESE OF METROPOLITAN STEPHAN BABIY-PETROVICH
ON APPOINTMENT OF METROPOLITAN MOISEI
AND THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE CHURCH STRUCTURE TO THE PATRIARCHAL MODEL

Cleveland, OH - On Thursday, October 10, 2002, an historic sobor of Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Bishops took place at the Cathedral of SS. Boris & Hlib, mother Church in the Diaspora of the UAOC Sobornopravna.

Bishops Reestablish Patriarchal Model of Church

At the Sobor, the Council of Hierarchs - which is the Holy Synod of Bishops, unanimously elected to restore to the Church structure, the venerable patriarchal model upon which the UAOC was founded in 1921-1924 and which was resurrected in 1990, in the days following the independence of Ukraine.

Due to the conditions within the UAOC in Ukraine following upon the death of Patriarch Dymytri (Yarema), the office of Patriarch of the UAOC was suppressed. For over two years now, the office of UAOC Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus Ukraine has been vacant, pursuant upon the wishes of some of the UAOC hierarchs in Ukraine.

At the October 10 Sobor, the decision was reached that in the future, the Sobor would officially elect a new Patriarch to fill the vacant See of Kyiv and would advance its ecclesiastical structure to the patriarchal model, with a full patriarchal curia and mode of operation.

The UAOC Sobornopravna has restored its presence on the Ukrainian land with the canonical erection of the "Archeparchy of Kyiv and All Rus' Ukraine." The new Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus' Ukraine, His Eminence, Metropolitan Moisei, was ordained during the Sobor.

The Metropolitan will have jurisdiction over all Ukrainian lands and will be joined by a local Ukrainian Council of bishops who will be responsible for parishes throughout the various provinces of Ukraine.

Metropolitan Moisei, is well experienced in the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in both Ukraine and America. In 1990, he was instrumental in the rebirth of the Church after the Soviet period and worked closely with both the late Patriarch Mstyslav and Metropolitan Ioan Bodnarchuk, and also with other Ukrainian hierarchs. He already has charge of a number of parishes and monasteries throughout Ukraine and has established a seminary to train Ukrainian born candidates.

The central consistory offices of Metropolitan Moisei and the UAOC Sobornopravna in Ukraine will be in Kyiv the capital of Ukraine.

This recent expansion of the UAOC Sobornopravna holds significant importance in the history of the Church in Ukraine. Its particular emphasis is on the trademark of the Ukrainian Orthodox synthesis - "sobornopravnist" or the conciliar model of Church government, once characteristic of all Ukrainian Orthodox jurisdictions. The first primate of the UAOC Sobornopravna in America, Metropolitan Hryhorij Ohijchuk, was given the commission from UAOC Metropolitan Nikanor Abrymovych, head of the Church in Ukraine, to bring the sobornopravna and patriarchal model of the Church to the Diaspora. In this way, Metropolitan Hryhorij continually maintained his title of "Metropolitan Archbishop of the Patriarchal Throne of Kyiv."

UAOC Sobornopravna Preserves Integrity of the Historical Ukrainian Church

In the Diaspora, the UAOC Sobornopravna was first established after the tragic events following the Second World War, when many Ukrainian people moved to the free world. His Beatitude, Metropolitan Hryhorij Ohijchuk led the Church until his repose in 1985. Metropolitan Hryhorij was consecrated in May of 1942, along with many other Ukrainian bishops (including Patriarch Mstyslav), ministered in the UAOC during the brief period of freedom while Ukraine was not under Russian Soviet domination. After the communists had annihilated the Ukrainian Church, those bishops who could escape the concentration camps, found refuge in the Diaspora and organized their churches there.

His Beatitude Metropolitan Stephan, with official approbation from the UAOC in Ukraine, has been the leader of the free UAOC Sobornopravna in Exile since 1996, and also the third in the succession lineage of Metropolitan Hryhorij. He has been responsible for increasing the activity of the Church to and beyond the level of growth once realized under Metropolitan Hryhorij. The UAOC Sobornopravna is now represented in eparchies and parishes all over the globe in many different nations, including the United States, Canada, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Cuba, Africa and throughout Latin America.

The Importance of the Patriarchate

The recent resurgence of the Church in Ukraine proper represents the historic and exciting new dimension, which has the aim to restore to full the activity of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the Patriarchal Throne of Kyiv. It was for this Church and patriarchate that the venerable founders of Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodoxy sacrificed their lives in the face of brutal persecution. Now, with the God-given opportunity of freedom in our Motherland, a completely functioning patriarchal Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church can once again begin to flourish.

With the restoration of the patriarchal model of the UAOC Sobornopravna by the recent Sobor, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church is truly a worldwide Church for Ukrainian Orthodox people, in which the ideals of the pioneers of the Church can be realized and expanded upon.

Without the patriarchate, the strength and witness of the Church cannot reach its full potential.

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