Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine said that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has been a success, but there is still a lot of work to do. He told it to reporters on Monday, according to UNN.
"The first year of the institutional formation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is coming to an end, and today we can say that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, as such, has been a success. But we still have a lot of work to do so that all Orthodox Ukrainians to unite around Kyiv, so that all of us together in the one Local Ukrainian Orthodox Church serve God, serve the interests of our Ukrainian people and serve the interests of the Ukrainian state," the first Hierarch said.
He added that over the past year, about 600 parishes from the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine have joined the Orthodox Church of Ukraine."
"In recent months, there have been some problems related to re-registration, that is, de facto. Some parishes that have declared the transition, are processing their documents," added the Metropolitan.
Last year, on January 5, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew signed the Tomos of autocephaly for the unified Orthodox Church of Ukraine. This document came into force immediately after the Patriarch affixed his signature.
On January 6, Patriarch Bartholomew solemnly presented the Tomos to Primate of the OCU, Metropolitan Epifaniy after the Liturgy in the walls of the Patriarchal Church of St. George on Phanar.