Saint Martyr Yury Parish of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Poltava welcomes you!

ADDRESSING TO OTHODOX PEOPLE

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!

Our site is not official, we give voice to our, some subjective view on some things, because we try not to commit ourselves to any political engagement and depend on any no financial maintenance of "lords of this world".

We do not think that our Church – UAOC is higher then any other Local Orthodox Church. As everywhere, there are both good and bad metropolitains, clerics, the laity in our Church. But recent situation in Ukraine is that seekers of monies, honour, authority or human glory have gone to another Orthodox jurisdictions being clother to authority and oligarchy. That's why, although it is hard to us to withstand without any financial maintenance, we can take comfort that we should neither launder dirty money nor conduce to nasty business of next restoration of the east despotism bearing name: Russian empire. After all, one should admit already that everything Ukrainian things in our Ukraine is on humiliating state: being an ukrainian down-the-line is not advantaging, or profitable, it is even dangerous. But then we, being far away from the busy world of men, have for now the happy chance to centre on spiritual mission, on ministerial activity.

On the eve of Easter 2001 one pretty reputable and candid prelate of ROC, being on the air on Russian TV, classified priest by example of Confession doing, as it is practised in that jurisdiction:

1. Usual priest: refuses in private confession, saying it is quite enough a general one.

2. Nice priest: assents to confess individually.

3. Very good priest: can ask something during individual confession.

4. And only superexcellent priest (or ad verbum – priest of genius) talks spiritually with faithful people individually during confession …

But how a human can practise Orthodoxy adequately more if not under ministery of "splendiferous" priests only? So, you should not be a member of an Orthodox parish only because it is closest to your dwelling because of the distance problem, really may Confession Sacrament be adequate, if the confession is formal, when spiritual parent is indifferent to problems and doubts of his spiritual child? And so a parish’s jurisdiction be not an obstruction to you: Church of Christ is one, and its partition shows only our imperfection in love. Each Orthodox people has its own national church, and there is no crime in this, no "schism", but let it be the main for you not belonging to one or another jurisdiction, but spiritual atmosphere of sincerity, well-wishing, fraternal love in the spiritual community. There is lack of something highly important there, if by entrance into a temple women are dealed with shawls and skirts, we believe...

There is one more great obstruction on the spiritual headway, we think it is dogged using of dead language in intercourse with Celestial Father, Son of God and Holy Ghost. Motivation of the ROC is quite intelligible: until language of divine service is “pan-slavonic” the jurisdiction using it may pretend on pan-slavonic status also. These awkward attempts to hold on some spectral slavonic racism is, certainly, disgraceful phenomenon itself, but as worse is that human, participating in such divine service factually puts him/herself down to level of dumb things, refusing clear realization of what he/her takes part in! At one time Stt. Cyrill and Methody moved God’s truth to medieval Slavonians, they did not think, they should master a strange inapprehensible language to understand God’s word better, for they didn’t take their close people as sub-people, who should pray in “language of philosophers” and throw away their savage and brutal parlance… And they were really Saint people, who followed Christ’s order to go to every people and not agents of the Byzantine Empire, they were enlighteners and not ideologists of Greek expanse to north… St. Apostle Pavel said: “I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. And I do all things for the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow partaker of it.”/1 Cor 9: 22-23/ for he would consider never to make artificial obstacles on the way of Lord’s truth getting, for the way is rather hard even without them. And here it turns out Aposlte should not become Ukrainian for the Ukrainian, as some of pseudo- brethren think, but stay alien. The people seeing a main sign of “uncanonicity” in using Ukrainian in divine service on the territory of this country, Ukraine, might be anything but a Apostles’ followers. Our Lord bequeaths to Christians: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” /Mt 28:19/ – teach and not assimilate. And everybody knows, it is the best to teach people in their native language, using an abstruse language one can only fog, trouble waters, do a number on everybody’s head… and whip struggle, though, not “against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” /Eph 6:12/, but against television, against cipher "6", against identification codes, against the Pope’s visit, against "international anti-russian plot", against Ecumenical Patriarch-"Mason", against Ukrainian nationalism and so on. We are restoring Autocephality of our local Church just because we don’t want to take part in such fight, and the fact, that the process has not been finished, doesn’t occasion ROC to call us “uncanonical”, for in due time the Moscow Patriarchy waited itself for a long time recognition of its Autocephality. See, how prot. Vladislav Tsypin says of this in his book “The Canon Law” (Moscow, 1996) “Iona Metropolitan a successor of Isydor was appointed in 1448 by Synod of Russian bishops without a Patriarch’s validation. Since that even after falling Union on the Greek East Russian Metropolitains were consecrated with the Synod of Russian bishops independently and didn’t go to Constantinople for enthronement.” /229-230 pp/ And he establishes in other place: “Constantinople Patriarchy delegated Autocephality to Bulgarian Church in 932, 1234 and 1946, Serbian Church in 1218 and 1879, Russian Church in 1589, Greek Church in 1850, Romanian Church in 1895 and Albanian Church in 1938” /204-205pp/. A question arises: what status had ROC since 1448 to 1589, when it got its Autocephality? Were the Sacraments "effective", effected in Moscow Metropolitaine for 141 year? But, let everybody be judged with his/her own conscience, but a formation period of one or another local church does not make their priesthood "autoconcentrated", and all community "uncanonical", and we are sure in this firmly, for every Autocephalous Local Church was forced to go through this, it’s a pity only, that hardship of brothers in faith brings not condolences from some people or desire to give a hand, but malevolence. What love might be here? What to say of any brotherhood?

If you want to know more detailed of our Church’s formation process, click here: Brief History of UAOC. There you will be able to get some information of recent state of connections between UAOC and Ecumenical Patriarchy by the medium of His Beatitude Constantine Metropolitan’s mediation, head of UAOC in Diaspora and UOC of the USA.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, welcome to discuss very actual theme "Estimate of Our Chances to Obtain Salvation".