Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said that the Ukrainian split could be overcome “at some point” and noted the possibility of dialogue and discussion of the status of schismatics in Ukraine.

“God forbid, so that the dogmatic theological consciousness of that part of the Orthodox of Ukraine, which separated from the mother Church and entered into schism, does not darken. Then hope will be lost. But as long as this is not the case, there remains the hope that, both by the grace of God and by the efforts of church ministers, it will be possible to enter into dialogue at some point, and to agree on something,” said Patriarch Kirill.

The words of Patriarch Kirill were commented on by experts.

“To persuade the ROC to compromise with Constantinople and recognize the Ukrainian schismatics is the dream of Greek church diplomacy. At the same time, the Moscow Patriarchate will weaken, and the Constantinople will strengthen its positions. Dialogue, of course, is possible and necessary, but in due time and under different circumstances,” writes From My Bell Tower.

Blogger Alexander Voznesensky offers a different interpretation: “What if the Patriarchy has its own plan of how to lead the situation so that it is the ROC that is in the dominant position in this game? I think that it is not worthwhile to draw conclusions prematurely and wait a little longer – you never know what awaits us in the foreseeable future – it may turn out that the schismatics themselves will subsequently ask for a dialogue (and they are now simply given a signal at a high level that the doors of the Church will be open) , and precisely so that everything should be in the canonical key of repentance, and not legalization.”