UOC responds to accusations of ROC clerics in Germany

The community of the UOC parish of the Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles in Stuttgart. Photo: the parish's Facebook page

Archpriest Serhiy Hayevsky, the dean of the Western European Vicariate of the UOC in Western Germany, responded to the statements made by ROC priest Konstantin Schmidt and ROCOR priest Mikhail Bondar, in which they questioned the legality of the UOC's ministry in the diaspora. He wrote about this in the comments published on the Vicariate's website.

Father Serhiy noted that the establishment of the UOC parish in Reichenau, Germany, is "not a whim of the Church but a pastoral response to the forced emigration of millions of Ukrainians who found themselves in European countries due to the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine."

He emphasized that the ROC clerics’ statements about the "non-canonicity" of opening UOC parishes in Germany without coordination with the ROC and ROCOR are incorrect, as there is no Local Church in this country.

"As is known, the principle of the canonical territory of exclusively one particular Local Orthodox Church does not operate in the diaspora. On the contrary, many Local Churches have their bishops and priests who engage in pastoral care for their compatriots in European countries where there are no autocephalous Local Orthodox Churches," wrote the UOC priest.

He stated that the UOC respects the canonical territories of Local Churches and does not establish parishes on their canonical territories.

"However, in Germany, the UOC has the same right to open its parishes as does the ROCOR, since there is no so-called 'canonical territory of the ROCOR' in the diaspora as we sometimes hear," Father Serhiy wrote, emphasizing that parishes of the Bulgarian, Romanian, and Serbian Churches also operate in Germany.

"The diaspora issue has not yet been resolved at the pan-Orthodox level," he reminded.

As reported, the Department for External Church Relations reported how many UOC parishes operate abroad.

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