Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate last week asserted his support for the autocephaly of the Montenegrin Church which seeks international recognition, as does the Ukrainian Church, according to the Religious Information Service of Ukraine website.
The press service of the UOC-KP reports that on October 24, 2010, the heads of the Ukrainian and Montenegrin Churches conducted a liturgy with the concelebration of the bishops and clergymen of the two Orthodox Churches at the Square of King Nikola in the ancient capital of Montenegro, Cetinje.
The heads of the Ukrainian and Montenegrin Orthodox Churches stated that they will cooperate with each other and will not pay attention to the negation of their autocephaly by the Moscow and Serbian Orthodox Churches, because the Montenegrin and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches have historic bases.
The head of the Ukrainian Church pointed to the "absurdity of the situation" when the Ukrainian Orthodox Church -- the church with the third largest number of the faithful after the Moscow and Romanian Patriarchates -- still cannot obtain autocephaly after 20 years of independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union.
Patriarch Filaret emphasized that the Ukrainian and Montenegrin Orthodox Churches have "historic foundations" and the "believers of the two churches live according to the Orthodox canons, dogmas, and rules and want to be together with all the Orthodox Churches, but this is opposed by some Orthodox Churches," meaning the Moscow and Serbian Churches.
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