The UOC and its Primate, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry, are in a very difficult position. Now the main task of canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine is to survive and preserve its flock, believes Orthodox theologian Alexander Dvorkin.

“The Council of the UOC remembered and renewed the decree of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow, which, during the civil war, the moving front line and the lack of normal communications, allowed each diocese to make decisions independently, according to circumstances,” writes Alexander Dvorkin. – So it was during the Civil War, so our hierarchs de facto acted during the Great Patriotic War. We can also recall St. Nicholas of Japan, who during the Russo-Japanese War blessed his priests and flock to pray for the victory of Japanese weapons. The war is over, but the Japanese Church still exists today. There is also the UOC. Ukrainian hierarchs have not fallen away from Orthodoxy. Let’s wait for the desired peace and a fair settlement, and then, in the conditions of restored communications and a free exchange of opinions, the issues of church status will also be resolved. In the meantime, we need to pray for our brothers and sisters in Ukraine.”