De Facto or De Iure? Ukrainian Autocephaly as a Contentious Issue in Orthodoxy

The purpose of this article is to present the contentious issue of Ukrainian autocephaly in today’s Orthodox Church. The topic is developed in four sections. Firstly, the method of proclaiming autocephaly in the Orthodox Church is presented. Then the history of establishing Ukrainian autocephaly is shown. The third section presents the problems related to the recognition of Ukrainian autocephaly in the Orthodox world. The final section sums up the results of the reflection and draws conclusions. They demonstrate that the Orthodox Church does not have unambiguous canonical regulations on the establishment of autocephaly, resulting in controversies surrounding Ukrainian autocephaly. The controversies consist especially of three theological-canonical issues: (1) the jurisdictional affiliation of the Kyiv Metropolitan See; (2) the manner of establishing Ukrainian autocephaly; and (3) the validity of the ordination of certain clergy of the new Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Finally, it is concluded that a definitive solution to the contentious issue of Ukrainian autocephaly requires agreement at the level of the whole Orthodox Church.