Kiev Patriarchate Will Not Unite with Moscow; Says Moscow Patriarchate Trying to Destroy It

The self-proclaimed "Kiev Patriarchate" in Ukraine has rejected a call by the Moscow Patriarchate to repent and return to the Russian Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Church Info blog reports today (July 28, 2010).

"By considering the Kiev Patriarchate to be a schism, the leaders of the Russian Church are manipulating the minds of believers by misleading them and the entire public. There is no church schism in Ukraine, but only the division of jurisdiction (subordination)," the Kiev Patriarchate Synod said in a statement yesterday.

The only way of overcoming the church division in Ukraine is "by forgetting the current disputes and recognizing the autocephaly (independence) of the local Ukrainian Orthodox Church," the authors said.

The current leaders of the Moscow Patriarchate are trying to involve the Ukrainian authorities in destroying the "Kiev Patriarchate," the statement said.