Background The
Kyivan Metropolis was the fruit of the baptism of the
Kyivan Rus in the time of Grand Prince
Vladimir the Great (988 AD). Missionaries were sent from
Constantinople to instruct the people in the Byzantine-Orthodox faith. Monastic life flourished, including in the famous Kyiv
Monastery of the Caves, through the efforts of St.
Anthony of Kiev, known as the father of Russian
monasticism. The sacking of Kyiv itself in December 1240 during the
Mongol invasion led to the ultimate collapse of the Rus' state. For many of its residents, the brutality of Mongol attacks sealed the fate of many choosing to find safe haven in the North East. In 1299, the Kyivan
metropolitan chair was moved to
Vladimir by Metropolitan
Maximus, keeping the title
of Kyiv. As Vladimir-Suzdal, and later the
Grand Duchy of Moscow continued to grow unhindered, the Orthodox religious link between them and Kyiv remained strong. The fall of Constantinople in 1453, allowed the once daughter church of North East, to become autocephalous, with Kyiv remaining part of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. From that moment on, the Churches of Ukraine and Russia went their own separate ways. The latter became central in the growing Russian Tsardom, attaining patriarchate in 1589, whilst the former became subject to repression and Polonization efforts, particularly after the
Union of Brest in 1596. Eventually the persecution of Orthodox Ukrainians led to a massive rebellion under
Bohdan Khmelnytsky, and united the Ukrainian
Hetmanate with the Russian Tsardom. In 1686, the Kyivan Metropolia
came under the Moscow Patriarchate. Ukrainian clergy, due to their Greek training, held key roles in the Russian Orthodox Church until the end of the 18th century.
First establishment In the wake of the breakup of the
Russian Empire some national groups sought autonomy or autocephaly from
Moscow. Proclamation of the
Ukrainian National Republic in 1917 was followed by the creation of the All-Ukrainian Orthodox Church Council, which represented clergy and
laity from around Ukraine. This event signified the beginning of
Ukrainization in church life and contributed to the establishment of the organizational structure of the Ukrainian church. A decree on autocephaly was adopted by the government of the Ukrainian Republic, but it was never implemented due to the events of
Ukrainian-Soviet War. Its first bishops were initially ordained by non-episcopal clergy and professors, similar to the early
Alexandrian Church. During the 1920s, under the leadership of metropolitan
Vasyl Lypkivsky and his deputy Nestor Sharaievsky, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church experienced a period of rapid growth and spread its influence on
Ukrainian communities abroad. Among main tenets of the church during that time were dedication to the separation of church and state, as well as
conciliarism, which included democratization and decentralization of church life. The church was also known for allowing vernacular Ukrainian to be used in religious service instead of
Church Slavonic. Considered a diocese of Polish Orthodoxy, Thus, he entered the canonical management of the UAOC communities. Priests of the Lviv Region, led by Bishop Ioan, held the first diocesan council. , 1991 The church regained state recognition in 1991, which is known as the "third resurrection" of the UAOC. Initially it was governed from abroad by Patriarch Mstyslav (Skrypnyk). Subsequent to his death in 1993, he was succeeded by
Patriarch Volodomyr. The patriarch would, during his time as patriarch, separate from the UAOC to found the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP), together with Metropolitan (now Patriarch) Filaret Denysenko. Those not willing to accept this change continued the UAOC with a new primate,
Patriarch Dymytriy Yarema. In November of 1991, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Ukrainian Church had 14 eparchies, 11 bishops (episcopes) and 1,600 parishes. On October 16, 2000, the Church Sobor in Ukraine elected Metropolitan
Methodius (Kudriakov) of
Ternopil to lead the church. The Patriarchal Cathedral of the UAOC is the historic
Church of St. Andrew the First-Called in Kyiv. It was built between 1747 and 1754 and was designed by the famous architect
Bartolomeo Rastrelli. Although used for regular liturgical services of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, the edifice had previously been a part of the historical park "Sofia-Kyiv." The Ukrainian government returned the church to the legal possession of the UAOC on 21 May 2008.
11 October 2018 decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate On 11 October 2018, after a regular
synod, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople renewed an earlier decision to move towards granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The synod also withdrew Constantinople's 332-years-old qualified acceptance of the Russian Orthodox Church's canonical jurisdiction over the Ukrainian Church contained in a letter of 1686. It was later clarified that
Filaret was considered by the Ecumenical Patriarchate only as "the former metropolitan of Kyiv", and
Makariy as "the former Archbishop of Lviv" The Ecumenical Patriarchate, however, declared that it recognized the
sacraments performed by the UOC-KP and the UAOC as valid.
Dissolution and merger into the Orthodox Church of Ukraine On 15 December 2018, the hierarchs of the UAOC and the UOC-KP decided to dissolve them both. This was done because on the same day, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate, and some members of the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) were going to merge to form the
Orthodox Church of Ukraine after a unification council. Bishop
Macarius declared in an interview published on 23 May 2019 that neither the UAOC nor the
UOC-KP had been dissolved: "Some government officials spoke incorrectly when they publicly declared that the Kyiv Patriarchate was liquidated." He explained that Philaret submitted only copies of documents, not the originals necessary in order to liquidate the UOC-KP. Macarius added: "When I was asked to hand over the documents for liquidation, I replied that until I see the originals from the other side, I will not turn in mine." On 14 August 2019, the UAOC legally ceased to exist because it merged with the
OCU. On 14 December 2019, after the meeting of the enlarged Bishops' Council, held on December 14 in Kyiv on the occasion of the anniversary of the
creation of the OCU,
Epiphanius declared that the procedure of liquidation of the UAOC as well as the
UOC-KP had been completed the day before. He added: "Such structures no longer exist. In confirmation of that, in the State Register there is marked 'activity DISCONTINUED'". ==Primates==