New bid for Orthodox reconciliation in Ukraine as winter strikes continue

Recent movement towards dialogue between the two Churches has been overshadowed by intensifying attacks on Ukraine’s power grid, which continued despite peace talks in Abu Dhabi.

The independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine established a synodal commission for dialogue and issued an appeal to members of the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

“We once again call on those among you who really want unity for the Church in Ukraine, care about Orthodoxy and wish the good of the Ukrainian people to a constructive dialogue,” said Metropolitan Epifaniy, primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).

The appeal emphasised the OCU’s efforts to resolve the division between the two Churches and the calls it has made previously to address the issue, but said these met a lack of interest from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).

“After all, the path of further conscious rejection of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and ignoring dialogue with it, which [it] has chosen so far, contradicts the Tomos and the canonical order, and it cannot bring good to the Church,” the OCU statement said.

The appeal on 2 February came a month after Metropolitan Epifaniy travelled to Istanbul for meetings with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I.

However, the appeal does not explicitly address the UOC or its head Metropolitan Onufry, instead referring Ukrainian believers, clergy and hierarchs “who depend on the position of the Russian Patriarchate”.

Shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the UOC Council agreed to a dialogue with OCU but conditioned this with demands that the OCU stop the “illegal seizure” of its churches and address the issue of “canonicity of the hierarchy of the OCU”.

Recent movement towards dialogue between the two Churches has been overshadowed by intensifying attacks on Ukraine’s power grid. Russian strikes continued overnight on Saturday, despite the conclusion of the latest round of peace talks in Abu Dhabi. Two power stations in western Ukraine were badly damaged, prompting further power restrictions. Four people died in attacks overnight on Tuesday.

At the general audience on 4 February, Pope Leo urged “everyone to support with prayer our brothers and sisters in Ukraine, who are being severely tested by the consequences of the bombings which have resumed, also striking energy infrastructure”.

Writing on social media that day, Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha thanked Pope Leo for paying “special attention to the Ukrainian people suffering in extreme cold from brutal Russian strikes against heating, power, and water”.

Pope Leo also praised “the solidarity initiatives promoted by Catholic dioceses in Poland and other countries, which are working to help the people endure this time of extreme cold”.

The Archbishop of Krakow Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś reported last week that a collection in his archdiocese had raised PLN 5,740,000 (£1.2 million) to pay for generators, heaters and other supplies for Kyiv.

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