Софійське Братство – громадська організація
In 2023, President V. Zelensky set the task of resolving the issue of the activity of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in Ukraine. The main goal of this task was to do everything possible to detach the UOC from the ROC, so that there would be no religious organizations in Ukraine subordinated (affiliated) to the aggressor state.
The end of 2025 proved to be particularly active for political and church-political life in Ukraine. Discussions of a peace plan and the presence of a religious component within it have prompted religious experts to pay special attention to this issue and to make certain adjustments in forecasting the development of church–state relations in 2026.
The phrase of the rector of the Kyiv Theological Academy, His Grace Archbishop Sylvester Stoichev, about the “de facto autocephaly of the UOC”, which he voiced in a podcast in Vinnytsia, stirred almost the entire ortho-segment of the Ukrainian internet. There was a sea of debates, with even more remarks and comments.
The article was written within the framework of the joint project of the Sophienbruderschaft and the German foundation Renovabis, “Modern Ukrainian Orthodoxy: Debunking Myths for
Recently, on the air of the television channel Espreso, the well-known religious scholar Andriy Kovalyov raised the issue of the possibility of establishing in Ukraine an Exarchate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
The media outlet Glavcom recently published an interview with Ukrainian Member of Parliament Yuliia Sirko — one of the active lobbyists for the swift implementation of the Law of Ukraine “On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Religious Organizations” (better known as the Law on the Prohibition of the UOC), adopted by the Verkhovna Rada in August last year. Ms. Sirko spoke in detail about the difficulties that arise in putting this law into practice, either due to objective circumstances or the human factor.
I would like to present three real-life examples of when people – and sometimes entire parishes – for various reasons decided to leave the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) and move to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP).
In Ukraine, a battle has begun between the Chalcedonian constitutional-federalist model and the modern confederative-despotic model, and the prehistory of this struggle is much older than the 2019 Tomos.
The Ukrainian church crisis has reached such a dead end that it seems it can no longer be resolved without external intervention. And such intervention exists – but, by a strange twist, it looks more like pouring gasoline on a fire than wise and influential mediation.
In the 20th century, Ukrainian Orthodoxy repeatedly embarked on the path of independence from the Moscow religious center.
Why do parishioners remain in the UOC-MP? Despite the horrors of the Russian invasion, which has shifted from a war of attrition to a war of extermination.
The resonance of the events surrounding the Chernivtsi cathedral remains strong. What we witnessed shocked many and stirred intense emotions.
This article is a logical continuation and supplement to the previous study, “Grace-lessness or Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”, which examined the legitimacy of the actions of the Ecumenical Patriarch concerning the annulment of the anathema imposed on Metropolitan Filaret and the acceptance of the clergy of the UOC KP and UAOC in their existing rank.
It is usually accepted to defend the corporate interests of the community you belong to; this is called “corporate solidarity.” People also say: “Don’t air your dirty laundry in public.”
If there’s one thing the leadership of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) can’t be denied, it’s their ability to treat almost any event — even one hardly deserving it — as a celebration.
So… the miracle didn’t happen. Today’s meeting and consultation of UOC bishops ended in yet another disappointment.
In the Old Testament, Israel is described as the “chosen people” of God (Exodus 19:5–6): “You shall be My treasured possession out of all the peoples.”
In the modern world, where the flow of information seems limitless, we often rely on claims that appear indisputable. Yet it is worth asking: how well-founded are these claims?
Cleric of the UOC, Priest Vasyl Maksymyshynets, who currently resides in Belgium, recently published on his YouTube channel a new episode of his authorial program entitled “Why Did the UOC End Up in the Grey Zone and How to Get Out of It? The Path to Autocephaly.”