For other uses, see the Ukrainian Orthodox Church disambiguation.

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The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Ukrainian: Українська Православна Церква; Russian: Украинская Православная Церковь) is an autonomous church of Eastern Orthodoxy in Ukraine, under the ecclesiastic link to the Moscow Patriarchate. The church is one of the two major rival Ukrainian Orthodox churches (the other being the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate) and is the only one whose canonical status is recognized by all other major Orthodox Churches worldwide.

Name

For the purpose of distinguishing the two orthodox churches, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is often referred in public as Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchy) or UOC(MP).

The church itself insists on its name being just the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,^[1] stating that it is the sole canonic body of Orthodox Christians in the country,^[1] a Ukrainian "local church" (Ukrainian: Помісна Церква), a claim fiercely contested by her non-canonic rivals.

The Church is registered under the name "Ukrainian Orthodox Church" in the State Committee of Ukraine in Religious Affairs.^[2]

History

Formerly known as Ukrainian exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church it received a full autonomy (a status one step short of full autocephaly) on October 27, 1990. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church considers itself to be a Ukrainian exarchate of the Moscow Patriarchy as well as the descendant of the Orthodox Church of Kiev and all Rus' in Ukraine, thus claiming a direct lineage to the original Baptism of Rus' by St. Vladimir (Volodymyr) in 988.

The Metropolitan Volodymyr (Viktor Sabodan) is enthroned since 1992 as the head of the UOC under the title Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine.

The church is currently the only Ukrainian church to have canonical standing in Eastern Orthodoxy, and operates in full communion with the other Eastern Orthodox Churches. It also owns the majority of Orthodox church buildings in Ukraine and is predominant in eastern and southern Ukraine.

The official residency of Metropolitan Volodymyr is in Kiev Pechersk Lavra (Monastery of the Caves) in Kiev.

As of 2006 the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had the allegiance of 10, 875 registred religious communities in Ukraine (approximately 68 percent of all Orthodox Christian communities in the country)[1], located mostly in central, eastern and southern regions and is the the largest religious body in Ukraine. However, this claim is contested by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate. Officially UOC claims to have up to 35 million followers ^{[citation needed]} . The Ukrainian Orthodox Church's officially views other Orthodox churches of Ukraine to be "schismatic nationalist organizations" whose claims to represent Orthodoxy are canonically invalid.

See also

• History of Christianity in Ukraine
• Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate
• Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

References

1. ^ ^{a b} The interview given by Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) to Associated Press
2. ^ Official Web-site

External links

• Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Ukrainian)/(Russian)
• Orthodoxy in Ukraine (Russian)

frp:Égllése ortodoxe d’Ucrayena - Patriarcat de Moscou

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