Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA
At the very short negotiation session in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine on the afternoon of June 2, Russia presented a three-page memorandum on its proposed terms for settlement. TASS reported: The memorandum Russia handed over to the Ukrainian side today in Istanbul consists of two parts, Russia’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said. “We handed over to the Ukrainian side our memorandum, which consists of two parts. The first one is about how to reach a truly lasting peace. The second part highlights the steps to be taken toward a real ceasefire,” he said, adding that the second part provides for several options. “To do this or that way,” he noted. https://tass.com/politics/1967245
Section I of the memorandum is entitled: “Key parameters of the final settlement.” Paragraph 11 of Section I provides: “11) lifting restrictions regarding the UOC.” https://www.facebook.com/KyivPost/posts/russia-is-demanding-the-withdrawal-of-ukrainian-forces-from-zaporizhzhia-donetsk/1288382829836309/ ; https://news-pravda.com/ukraine/2025/06/02/1390311.html
In my last newsletter, I reported on an address made by Metropolitan Onufry, primate of the UOC, at a roundtable discussion held at the Kyiv Theological Academy (KTA) on May 20, 2025. https://uoc-news.church/2025/05/20/u-kijivskij-duxovnij-akademiji-vidbuvsya-kruglij-stil-sobornist-v-zhitti-pravoslavnoji-cerkvi-vid-soboriv-drevnosti-do-soboru-ukrajinskoji-pravoslavnoji-cerkvi-u-feofaniji/#2025-05-31 The subject of the roundtable was “Conciliarity in the life of the Orthodox Church: from the councils of antiquity to the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Feofania” In his address, Metropolitan Onufry stressed “the complete canonical independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its unambiguous separation from the Moscow Patriarchate” after the Council held in Feofania on May 27, 2022. https://uoc-news.church/2025/05/20/zvernennya-blazhennishogo-mitropolita-onufriya-z-nagodi-tretoji-richnici-soboru-upc-u-feofaniji/#2025-05-31 At the end of this address, Metropolitan Onufry stated: “We hope that the entire family of Autocephalous Local Churches will morally support us, approve of our canonical independence, and mark it with due distinction.”
Subsequent to the roundtable event, a letter was sent to all of the bishops of the UOC inviting them to participate in a Divine Liturgy on May 27, 2025, at Feofania to mark the third anniversary of Council that was held on May 27, 2022. https://raskolam-net.info/ru/87104-arhiyereyi-upcz-otrymaly-zaproshennya-na-svyatkuvannya-tretoyi-richnyczi-soboru-u-feofaniyi/ Although the letter only mentioned the celebration of a Divine Liturgy, there was speculation in the social media that the gather of the bishops could become the occasion for a new council of the bishops. This speculation turned out to be false. The Liturgy on May 27, 2025, is reported at https://uoc-news.church/2025/05/27/u-feofaniji-vidbulos-urochiste-bogosluzhinnya-z-nagodi-tretoji-richnici-soboru-upc/#2025-05-31 Rather than a council, Metropolitan Onufry simply read verbatim the address that he had made at the roundtable one week earlier. A video of this address on May 27 can be watched at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un575gJ2SdY. The fact that Metropolitan Onufry read his address twice — the second time in a very solemn setting with most of the bishops of the UOC present — shows that he must have believed that the statement was important. Interestingly, the website of the KTA in reporting on the Liturgy chose to emphasize and highlight the “hope” sentence (in bold above) expressed by the Metropolitan in his address. https://kdais.kiev.ua/event/27-05-25-liturhiya-rector/
It appears that the language used in the “hope” sentence was very carefully chosen. I suspect that the language of the “hope” sentence as well as the general approach taken by Metropolitan Onufry in his address reflect the ideas of professors at the KTA such as its rector, Archbishop Sylvester of Belogorod. Thus, in his own presentation at the roundtable event, Archbishop Sylvester stated that the UOC “is moving along the path of complete canonical independence, that is, autocephaly” and that “we hope that our choice will be supported by other Local Orthodox Churches.”
Why did the drafters of the “hope” sentence use the phrase “mark it with due distinction” rather than directly use the word “autocephaly”? I suspect that it was to minimize the possibility that the UOC could be accused of declaring its own autocephaly. History has shown that when a church unilaterally declared its own autocephaly, it was considered “schismatic” by at least some of the Local Churches for a period thereafter. North Macedonia is an example of this. For years, the UOC has preached that the OCU is schismatic and that the sacraments of the OCU are therefore invalid. If the UOC itself is now labeled a “schismatic” church, it would cause great fear on the part of the UOC faithful who may well believe that their own sacraments have suddenly become invalid as a result. The strategy of the UOC, as expressed by its primate, appears to be that the UOC declares its complete independence, avoiding the use of the word “autocephaly,” but leaving it to the various Local Orthodox Churches to “mark” this status with the designation “autocephaly.”
One must now wait and see if any of the Local Orthodox Churches respond in any way to the “hope” expressed by Metropolitan Onufry.
It has now been 24 days since the election of Pope Leo XIV. It is obviously too early to reach an assessment of the relationships of the new pope with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and with the Moscow Patriarchate. However, early signs indicate that the relationship with the Ecumenical Patriarchate is developing positively. As previously reported, Pope Leo had a private meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on May 19, the day following the Pope’s Inauguration Mass. On May 30 the Ecumenical Patriarch was back in Rome to receive the Laudato Si’ award at the Pontifical Antonianum University. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2025-05/ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew-i-receives-laudato-si-award.html On the same day, he met with Pope Leo for a second time. https://orthodoxtimes.com/ecumenical-patriarch-meets-pope-leo-xiv-at-the-vatican/ The press office of the Ecumenical Patriarchate stated that the “atmosphere of this second meeting between Pope and Patriarch was once again very friendly and cordial” and that the two church leaders “discussed details of His Holiness’s official visit to Turkey, which will take place this year, as well as other current ecclesiastical issues.”
On the other hand, there have been some indications that the Moscow Patriarchate is somewhat unhappy with the Vatican, perhaps due to matters relating to Ukraine. After the breakdown of negotiations between Russian and Ukraine in Istanbul on May 16, Cardinal Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, commented that Pope Leo XIV was willing, if helpful, to offer the Vatican as a venue for resumed direct meetings between Russia and Ukraine. On May 20, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stated that Pope Leo had confirmed during a telephone conversation with her the willingness of the Vatican to host the next round of negotiations. The Vatican’s offer related to providing physical facilities for the negotiations, but not acting as a mediator. On May 23, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov rejected the Vatican’s offer. See https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/2019597/ Father Nikolai Balashov, the personal adviser to Patriarch Kirill, in a RIA Novosti article agreed with Lavrov, but added a stronger criticism of the Vatican than had been used by Lavrov. Balashov concluded his remarks by stating that “the idea of the Vatican as a suitable place for meeting and peace talks between Ukraine and Russia could appeal only to those who have studied history poorly.” https://ria.ru/20250523/rpts-2018740057.html
Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, was in Rome on May 24 and 25. On May 24, the feast day of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Metropolitans Anthony and Nestor held a prayer service at the Basilica of St. Clement which for centuries was the location of the relics of St. Cyril. https://mospat.ru/ru/news/93271/ On May 25, Metropolitan Anthony celebrated the Liturgy at the Moscow Patriarchate’s Church of St. Nicholas in Rome. https://mospat.ru/en/news/93278/ To the best of my knowledge, Metropolitan Anthony has never met Pope Leo XIV. (At the Inauguration Mass, it was Metropolitan Nestor of Korsun and Western Europe who had represented the Moscow Patriarchate.) Unfortunately, no meetings were reported between Pope Leo and Metropolitan Anthony during the period of Metropolitan’s May visit to Rome. In contrast, a Bulgarian delegation, including Bulgarian Prime Minister Zhelyazkov and Bulgarian Metropolitan Anthony of Western and Central Europe, also visited Rome for the feast day of Saints Cyril and Methodius. They did meet with Pope Leo. ( https://dveri.bg/component/com_content/Itemid,100724/catid,19/id,74231/view,article/)
Peter Anderson, Seattle USA .