Independent Ukrainian primate thanks Pope for prayers at first meeting

“For us, your constant call to pray for peace for Ukraine is very important, directed to Catholics all over the world and to all believers,” said Metropolitan Epifaniy.

The leader of the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv met Pope Francis last Friday, thanking him for his humanitarian efforts in achieving just peace for Ukraine.

It was the first meeting between the Pope and the OCU primate, whose Church broke with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) over its historic allegiance to the Moscow Patriarchate, and was granted autocephaly by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in January 2019.

Epifaniy expressed particular gratitude for the Pope’s personal assistance in facilitating the return of prisoners of war and Ukrainian children held in Russia.

“For us, your constant call to pray for peace for Ukraine is very important, directed to Catholics all over the world and to all believers. Because we believe that the prayer that is constantly offered daily by millions of Christians around the world has great spiritual power. God hears these prayers and helps,” he told Francis. 

The meeting was the first appointment of Epifaniy’s extended visit to Italy, and was important recognition of the OCU’s legitimacy in the face of hostility from the Moscow Patriarchate and its allied Orthodox Churches. However, the Vatican did not publicise or report on the metropolitan’s visit.

Epifaniy also held talks with Cardinal Kurt Koch, the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, on the effects of the Russian invasion and various pathways to peace Churches could follow. He described the good relationships his church maintains with the Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic churches in Ukraine, as well as the ongoing religious persecution in the temporarily occupied territories. 

They also discussed the recent Ukrainian legislation prohibiting religious organisations with ties to Russia, which has been criticised for targeting the UOC. 

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The Ukrainian delegation also visited Rome’s Greek Orthodox Church of St Theodore, where the metropolitan led prayers for peace in Ukraine, travelling to Bari, in Puglia, where on Monday he presided at a Holy Liturgy at the Papal Basilica of Saint Nicholas, which houses the saint’s relics.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported last week that Russian invaders had destroyed 700 churches and killed 50 priests.  He said many of those killed had been tortured because they refused to pray for the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.

“There is ample evidence of how they tortured them. Why were they tortured? Purely because they were ‘supposed’ to be serving Patriarch Kirill and their church,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with CBN.

For the third consecutive year, there was no ceasefire arranged for the Christmas period, after Hungarian-led initiatives failed to find an agreement between the combatants. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán claimed in a social media post that Zelenskyy had rejected his proposal for a Christmas ceasefire and large-scale prisoner exchange.

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