The Russian Orthodox Church's assessments of the May decisions of the Council of the Canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in Feofania can be given only after the end of the phase of active hostilities, in the current situation it is very difficult to make "final judgments". This was stated by Vladimir Legoyda, head of the synodal department of the Moscow Patriarchate for relations of the Church with society and the media.
"The official assessments that were given at the level of the Synod [of the Russian Orthodox Church] after the well-known events - the so-called Theophany, the council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in May last year and its decisions, were very restrained. And we, of course, proceed from the fact that in a situation when active hostilities are underway, it is very difficult to make any final judgments. And we probably understand that only after this phase is completed, some more definite assessments will be given and actions will be taken," Legoyda said on Vera Radio.
When asked to comment on the danger of a split and the existence of an "autocephalous party" within the UOC, the head of the synodal department noted that it is quite difficult now to give any assessment to "brothers from the Ukrainian church who are under tremendous pressure." "The phrase [that they] "with a gun to their temple" say and do something has practically ceased to be a metaphor," Legoyda admitted.
According to him, in this situation, it personally "seems counterproductive" to him to discuss individual statements of certain representatives of the church in Ukraine.
"<...> This is a question, of course, of the most difficult situation, the tragedy that has just happened when we look at each other through gun sights. This situation must end, and then we will return at different levels, including at the church, to a calmer one - in a difficult mode, but to talk, and to change the situation," the representative of the ROC added.
In May 2022, the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, self-governing as part of the Moscow Patriarchate, announced that it had adopted "additions and amendments to the charter on the management of the UOC, testifying to its full independence and independence." The hierarchs in Ukraine, who adopted the decisions of the Council in Theophany, stopped commemorating Patriarch Kirill as their primate. Many representatives of the clergy and believers in Ukraine did not agree with the decisions of the UOC Council. The Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church adopted a resolution that the decisions of the Council "need to be studied in the prescribed manner" for their compliance with the letter of Patriarch Alexy II on the status of the UOC and the charter of the Russian Orthodox Church.