Patriarch of Antioch congratulates UOC Primate on his St. Patron's Day

Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East. Photo: Education and Orthodoxy

On June 27, 2019, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine received a congratulatory letter on the occasion of his Heavenly Patron's Day from the Primate of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, Patriarch John X of Antioch and the whole East, reported the website of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC.

“We know you, Your Beatitude, as a pastor full of love and sincerity to the Lord. We know you as a pastor who will obey to the Captain of the ship. The pastor who will wake the Captain of the ship with his fervent prayers in order to calm down the waves and bring peace to the Church,” Patriarch John X addressed His Beatitude Onuphry.

The Primate of the Antiochian Orthodox Church emphasized that he and his flock are asking God to bestow fortitude and firmness in faith to the Primate of the UOC, his Church and the people.

“’May the Lord of peace himself give you peace always and in everything’ (2 Thess. 3:16),” concluded the Archpastor of the Church of Antioch.

According to the deputy head of the UOC DECR Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, this greeting by Patriarch John X demonstrates the attitude of the Local Churches to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry.

“Firstly, the address is ‘His Beatitude’ and secondly, with the title ‘Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine”. So, Local Churches do not pay attention to the last year’s letters and canonical fantasies of Pat.  Bartholomew on prohibiting His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry to wear the title of Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine. They continue their communion with His Beatitude in their stride as with the only legal and canonical head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” commented Archpriest Nikolai on the letter of the Primate of the Antiochian Church on his Facebook page.

Recall that in December 2018, Patriarch Bartholomew sent a letter to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, in which he urged him “willingly, in the spirit of harmony and unity with the episcopate subordinate to you” to take part in the “Unification Council”. In the letter, Patriarch Bartholomew warned His Beatitude that at the moment he only allows him to be the Metropolitan of Kiev "by condescension". However, in the event of his refusal to participate in the “Sobor”, His Beatitude Onuphry, from the point of view of Phanar, will cease to be the Metropolitan of Kiev: “Returning now to the same issue through this Patriarchal Letter and addressing you as the “eminent Metropolitan of Kyiv”, in a form of oikonomia and condescension, we notify you that after the election of the Primate of the Ukrainian Church by the clergy-laity body, you will not be ecclesiologically and canonically able to bear the title of the Metropolitan of Kyiv, which, anyway, you possess today in transgression of the prescribed conditions in the official documents of 1686.”

Afterwards, in January 2019, the Patriarch of Antioch emphasized that it was unworthy to remain silent on the situation in Ukraine. “We urged and continue to urge the Ecumenical Patriarch and other higher clergy to solve the current problems, including the problems our fraternal Russian Orthodox Church is facing now, through dialogue, through negotiations, through ordinary conversation,” Patriarch John X said.

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