Ecumenical Patriarchate May Create Halfway House for Those Unwilling to Remain in Ukrainian Orthodox Church but Not Yet Ready to Join Orthodox Church of Ukraine

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Nov 18 – The Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople is developing a plan for the creation in Ukraine of a temporary exarchate to provide a temporary spiritual home for those who do not want to remain in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which is still viewed by many as a Russian church but not yet ready to join autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine

            The man behind this idea is Greek theologian Pavel Liberman who says that such a structure could sere as “a transitional canonical space” for such people and keep this process under the control of the church rather than risk it becoming a political football and continue for decades (ng.ru/ng_religii/2025-11-18/9_607_exarchate.html).

            Liberman says that such a temporary exarchate will in no way threaten the Ukraine’s autocephalous status or will in any way compete with the OCU for members. Instead, it will be designed to keep the future of the Orthodoxy in Ukraine a matter for the church rather than the state and thus a more natural one.

            Many in the OCU are nonetheless suspicious, and no final decision as been taken. In the view of some in Moscow, this idea is the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s response to the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate’s decision to create an exarchate in Africa to undermine other patriarchates rather than being something in the first instance about Ukraine.