Thursday, March 27, 2008

Union with Catholics is to follow the Ukrainian Church's autocephaly - Metropolitan Agafangel

Metropolitan Agafangel of Odessa and Ismail believes the Ukrainian Orthodox Church may join the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in case it becomes autocephalous.

"The Union is logical development of possible autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. That's why pro-Western political forces and their sponsors spare no effort to ruin Orthodox identification in Ukrainian people," Metropolitan Agafangel said in his interview published by the Russky Dom magazine in April.

He stressed it was not by chance that certain websites which declared they belonged to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and backed up its autocephaly started publishing articles apparently sympathetic to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church while its authors said "the UGCC most fully corresponds with today's Ukrainian realities and "sincerely" seeks church unity."

"God save us from such a "unity," the Odessa metropolitan stressed.

He also reminded that Ukraine had already experienced separate existence of the Kiev Metropolia in the 15th-17th.

"We should remember its outcome as the most terrific lesson and threatening warning of history as it resulted in the shameful Brest Union and entire liquidation of Orthodox episcopate," Metropolitan Agafangel said.
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