In fact, the name thing is by far not the only matter that divides the two groups.
(The KP already has a provision in place that allows the various UAOC's who come into communion with it to continue to use "Autocephalous" and all the UAOC parishes in the U.S. that belonged to the "Sobornopravna" jurisdiction are now with the KP and they all use "UAOC-KP.")
Various articles on the blogs on RISU indicate, quite predictably, that the bishops of UAOC are afraid of losing their own parishes and the like upon unification.
The UAOC is the smallest jurisdiction but, with its 1,000+ parishes, it is said to outnumber the Polish, Czech, Slovak and Albanian Orthodox Churches put together.
They will have the summer to consider all angles, as will the EP who is directly interested and involved in this development.
In a lengthy interview that can be found on risu.org.ua Metropolitan Alexander (Drabenko) opened up about his views on the current goings-on with the canonical UOC-MP.
He was asked why there even is the UOC-KP and he bluntly replied, "The people don't see the canonical UOC-MP as a Ukrainian Church . . ."
He went on to say that if the UOC-MP becomes, in fact, the "Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine," then there is simply no future for it there.
In his usual diplomatic tone, he said the current Primate of the UOC-MP is trained in and loves the "best traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church." And, of course, that became the headline everywhere.
He said that he was forcibly sent out from Ukraine just weeks before Metropolitan Vladimir's death ( and he was the then Primate's personal secretary and factotum). There is now an investigation into this with him as the focus. He suggested that it seemed some wanted the very pro-Ukrainian Metropolitan out of the way as soon as possible etc.
He himself travelled to the war-torn areas in southeastern Ukraine where he served Divine Liturgy for the Ukrainian army. He is someone to watch in the coming months . . .
Alex
