Twelve Kyiv priests of the former Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) have joined the newly created Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
The Moscow Patriarchate banned them from serving for "a schism," the Kyiv-based Metropolia of the former UOC-MP said on its website.
As is seen from the list of the priests' names, the intellectual elite, who for a long time were involved in the formation of church policy and education, and also played a significant role in Ukraine in creating a positive public opinion about UOC-MP, left their former organization, the Religion in Ukraine portal said.
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As UNIAN reported earlier, more than 200 parishes of the former Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate have already joined the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
UNIAN memo. The Unification Council of members of the Ukrainian Orthodox churches in Kyiv on December 15 elected Metropolitan of Pereyaslavsky and Bila Tserkva from the then Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate Epifaniy (also known as Epiphanius I) as head of the new local Orthodox church in Ukraine. On January 6, Epifaniy, as Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, received the tomos of autocephaly (independence) of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine from Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in Istanbul, Turkey.
Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine Epifaniy was inaugurated as Primate of the newly created Orthodox Church of Ukraine at Kyiv's Saint Sophia Cathedral on February 3.
