Five years ago, the then head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy met with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. During the meeting for the first time there was a talk about the creation of “stauropegia” of the Phanar in Ukraine. Religious scholar Andrei Kovalyov, who was then Parubiy’s press secretary, wrote this on Facebook.

“5 years ago, on November 19, 2016, at the Phanar at the residence of the Ecumenical Patriarch, this fateful meeting took place, for which we were very well prepared. We already had the lists and names of the episcopate that would support the creation of the Local Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in particular, among the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine,” Kovalyov wrote.

Then the proposal to create a “stauropegia” of the Phanar in Ukraine was first made, but this should have happened after the proclamation of “autocephaly”.

“In conclusion, we got confidence that there would be a Tomos for the UOC, but we also got a lot of homework. So it was clear that his decision would take at least a year, or even two,” summed up Kovalyov.