An Unofficial UOC-OCU Dialogue as a Grassroots Initiative for Reconciliation of the Orthodoxy in Ukraine

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the religious issue in Ukraine has become much more acute. Since then and to the December 2023, about 900 parishes transferred from the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC) to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), according to the official data of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Affairs and Freedom of Conscience. But more than 8,000 parishes remain in the UOC despite the Russian aggression. For many citizens, it is unclear what else needs to happen for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to unite with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, or at least not falsely to leave the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate.