RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Moscow-related Ukrainian churches take ussue to court

UKRIANIAN SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW THREE SUITS DEMANDING TO ANNUL RESOLUTION OF RADA ABOUT TOMOS

Interfax-Religiia, 1 November 2018

 

The Ukrainian Supreme Court is to issue a decision on three lawsuits demanding to annul the resolution of support of the appeal by President Petro Poroshenko to Patriarch Bartholomew for granting a tomos about autocephaly to the Orthodox church, the press service of the state judicial administration reported.

 

As of 30 October 2018 there are three identical plaintiff's petitions from different plaintiffs in the proceedings of the court. The press service noted that two of them will be considered in simplified lawsuit proceedings without summoning the parties, based on available materials within the time frame established by article 258 of the Code of Administrative Judicial Procedure of Ukraine, that is, no more than 60 days from the date of the opening of proceedings in the case.

 

Among the plaintiffs in these cases are the "Religious parish of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the church of St. Nicholas of the Berdyansk diocese of the city of Berdyansk of Zaporozhe oblast" and the stavropegial male monastery of St. George in Gorodnitsia.

 

The proceedings in these cases opened on 8 and 9 October. Yet another case is scheduled for consideration in a judicial session with a report (challenge) of the parties on 27 November.

 

On 17 April, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko reported his intention to appeal to Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew asking him to issue a tomos about a united local Orthodox church in Ukraine and he urged the Verkhovna Rada to support his initiative as quickly as possible. On 19 April the people's deputies supported the president's appeal.

 

In October, the Synod of Constantinople removed an anathema from the leader of the Kiev patriarchate, Filaret Denisenko, and recognized his organization as canonical and also the other unrecognized church of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. In addition, Constantinople announced the restoration of its rights to the metropolitanate of Kiev and annulled the more than 300-year-old tomos transferring this metropolitanate to Moscow.

 

In response, the Russian Orthodox Church severed eucharistic communion with the patriarchate of Constantinople. (tr. by PDS, posted 1 November 2018)


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