His Beatitude, Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine, has refused to meet with the exarchs appointed by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to pave the path toward the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s autocephaly, Metropolitan Anthony of Borispol and Brovary, chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, said in his interview with the Ukrainian publication Vesti.
“In our opinion, the Constantinople Patriarchate’s representatives who have come to Ukraine with a certain assignment are present here and are acting here uncanonically. Therefore, when they asked to be received by the Primate of our Church, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Onufry, categorically refused to do so,” Metropolitan Anthony said.
Among the reasons for Metropolitan Onufry’s refusal to meet with Constantinople’s legates is that their very arrival in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s territory “should have been agreed upon beforehand and they should have received permission by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” he said.
“And yet the said bishops came without any authorization, and not just as some pilgrims but with a clear mission to pursue some projects of their own. Taking this all into consideration, we must acknowledge the absence of any direct dialogue with the Phanar,” Metropolitan Anthony said.
