Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate in the context of "Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church"

⭐ In the context of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) and it shared a significant event in December 2018, ultimately leading to the formation of a new religious body?

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⭐ Core Definition: Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP; Ukrainian: Украї́нська Правосла́вна Це́рква – Ки́ївський Патріарха́т (УПЦ-КП), romanizedUkrainska Pravoslavna Tserkva — Kyivskyi Patriarkhat (UPTs-KP)) was an Orthodox church in Ukraine, in existence from 1992 to 2018. Its patriarchal cathedral was St Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kyiv.

After its unilateral declaration of autocephaly in 1992, the UOC-KP was not recognised by the other Eastern Orthodox churches, and was considered a "schismatic group" by the Moscow Patriarchate and Ecumenical Patriarchate. Patriarch Filaret (Denysenko) was enthroned in 1995 and excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1997, an action not recognized by the UOC-KP synod. In 2018, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople moved unilaterally and against canonical norms to facilitate a "unification council", in contradiction to his previous statement "recognizing the fullness of the Russian Orthodox Church's exclusive competence on this issue". The canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church rejected these overtures, noting its universal recognition as sole canonical authority on the territory of Ukraine and the political nature of the proposed council. Constantinople ignored this, "reinstated" Filaret as a bishop and facilitated the convening of a unification council. In December 2018, the unification council of the Eastern Orthodox churches of Ukraine decided to unite the UOC-KP with the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC), creating the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) which was subsequently granted autocephaly by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in January 2019.

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👉 Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate in the context of Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC; Ukrainian: Українська автокефальна православна церква (УАПЦ), romanizedUkrayinska avtokefalna pravoslavna tserkva (UAPTs)) was one of the three major Eastern Orthodox churches in Ukraine in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, together with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). It began in 1921 during the dissolution of the Russian Empire as part of the Ukrainian independence movement and in order to restore the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that existed in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1620–1685 and was annexed by the Moscow Patriarchate without approval of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The UAOC came to an end in December 2018 as it united with the UOC-KP into the newly formed Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).

The UAOC, in its contemporary form, has its origins in the synod of 1921 in Kyiv, shortly after Ukraine's newly found independence. It was re-established for the third time on 22 October 1989, right before the fall of the Soviet Union. Unlike the UOC-KP, the UAOC enjoyed no recognition by the rest of the Orthodox Christian community until 11 October 2018, when the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople lifted the excommunication which had afflicted both the UAOC and the UOC-KP. It was clarified on 2 November 2018, however, that the Ecumenical Patriarchate recognized neither the UAOC nor the UOC-KP as legitimate and that their respective leaders were not recognized as primates of their churches. On 15 December 2018, at the unification council of the Eastern Orthodox churches of Ukraine, the UAOC and the UOC-KP, along with metropolitans from the UOC-MP, unified into the OCU.

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Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate in the context of 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

The 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism is an ongoing schism between the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC, also known as the Moscow Patriarchate) and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, which began on 15 October 2018 when the former unilaterally severed full communion with the latter.

The resolution was taken in response to a decision of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople of 11 October 2018, confirming its intentions to grant autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in the future. The decision also stated that the Holy Synod would immediately: reestablish a stauropegion in Kyiv, i.e. a church body subordinated directly to the ecumenical patriarch; revoke the "Letter of issue" (permission) of 1686 that had given permission to the patriarch of Moscow to ordain the metropolitan of Kiev and lift the excommunications which affected the clergy and faithfuls of two unrecognized Ukrainian Eastern Orthodox churches. Those two unrecognized churches, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP), were competing with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) (UOC-MP) and were considered "schismatics" (illegally segregated groups) by the Patriarchate of Moscow, as well as by the other Eastern Orthodox churches.

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Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate in the context of St Volodymyr's Cathedral

St Volodymyr's Cathedral (Ukrainian: Володимирський собор [woloˈdɪmɪrsʲkɪj soˈbɔr]) is a cathedral in the centre of Kyiv, and one of the city's major landmarks at the intersection of Ivan Franko Street, the Taras Shevchenko Boulevard, and the Botanical Square. Since the unification council of the Eastern Orthodox churches of Ukraine in December 2018, it has been under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Before that, it was the mother church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate.

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Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate in the context of Filaret (Denysenko)

Patriarch Filaret (secular name Mykhailo Antonovych Denysenko Михайло Антонович Денисенко, born 23 January 1929) is a Ukrainian religious leader, currently serving as the primate and Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine, that he left in 2019, views him as the Honorary Patriarch emeritus, while the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople recognises him as former Metropolitan of Kyiv.

He was formerly the Metropolitan of Kiev and the Exarch of Ukraine in the Patriarchate of Moscow (1966–1992). After joining the Kyiv Patriarchate, he was defrocked and in 1997 excommunicated by the ROC. On 11 October 2018, the Patriarchate of Constantinople reinstated him in church communion. However, while restored to the episcopate, the Ecumenical Patriarchate never recognised him as Patriarch and views him as the former Metropolitan of Kyiv. On 15 December 2018, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate united with the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and some members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (MP) into the Orthodox Church of Ukraine; the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate thus ceased to exist.

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