Apostolic Succession

The Apostolic Succession of His Most Reverend Highness the Prince-Abbot of Seborga has its origins in the Apostle Andrew, brother of St. Peter, the first apostle of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The preaching of St. Andrew the Apostle on Ukrainian soil was the first word of the Holy Gospel, the word of Christ for the ancestors of modern Ukrainians. Christianity expanded in the Ukrainian lands and through the Greek colonies in the eastern part of Ukraine, where the first Christian dioceses existed in the Near and Middle Sea and in the Crimea. The work of Saints Cyril and Methodius was a great contribution to the development of Orthodox worship in the Slovenian lands in the 9th century.

Christianity spread to Kievan Rus’ during the reign of St Oskold (†882), Oleg (†912) and Igor (†945). Princess Olga (†969), baptised in Constantinople, built temples and supported the spread of the faith of Christ in the state. Prince Volodymyr Svyatoslavich of Kiev (963-1015) founded in 988. Russia-Ukraine as ‘the history of past years’ testifies. From then on, Kievan-Ukrainian Rus’ was considered a Christian power, where the Orthodox Church had state importance. Since Orthodoxy came from Byzantium, the Patriarchate of Constantinople is the Mother Church of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The Metropolitan of Kyiv in Rus-Ukraine (10th-11th century) was founded in the early 1990s. According to church records, St. Michael of Kyiv († 992) is considered the first Metropolitan. In the 10th century, the organisation of church life in the Kyiv metropolis gradually took shape. During the reign of the Holy Prince Yaroslav the Wise (978-1054) in 1051 the Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus’ Ilarion, the author of the work “Law and Grace” was appointed to the Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv.

During the life of the Kievan-Rusk state, new areas of church life developed. The Nomocanon and the Church Lords’ Books were created, ecclesiastical law developed and the canonical activity of the Kievan metropolitans took place. Following the example of the Byzantine Empire, the interrelations between Church and State were based on the principle of ‘symphony’. Church architecture and art developed extraordinarily, and important Orthodox churches were built: the Church of the Tenth, St. Sophia of Kiev, the gold-domed Cathedral of St. Michael and others. The obscurity of life in Ukrainian Rus’-Ukraine was initiated by the reverend fathers St. Anthony and St. Theodosius, who slept in the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, and the canonisation of the Kiev-Rus saints of the pre-Mongolian period, in particular the martyred saints Prince Boris and Prince Glob and others. The introduction of Christianity promoted the rapid development of church book learning, a library and school were established in the Cathedral of St Sophia by Prince Yaroslav the Wise, writing, lithography, preaching and so on developed.

The Kyiv Metropolitan of the Lithuanian-Russian State of the 13th-15th Centuries

The gradual collapse of the Kyiv state was accompanied by the adoption of a new political centre – the Principality of Volodymyr-Suzdal. After Prince Andriy Bogolyubsky of Volodymyr (1110-1174) had sought the blessing of the Patriarch of Constantinople to establish a separate Metropolia of Volodymyr in 1162, without success, he attacked Kiev in 1169 and completely despoiled the city, burning down the Pechersk Monastery and St Sophia Cathedral. The decline of the Kievan Rus’ state was caused by a new attack by Mongol-Tatar invaders on Kiev on 6 December 1240. This led to the transfer of the chairmanship of the metropolitans from Kiev to the eastern territories, albeit in violation of canonical rules. The process of separation and decline of the Kyiv metropolia began in the 13th century, which was accompanied by the repeated proclamation of a separate metropolia of Galicia in the western Ukrainian lands. For the Metropolitans of Kyiv, Peter Ratensky (†1326) and Feognost (†1353), the effective transfer of the Kyiv Metropolia to Moscow contributed to the elevation of this provincial centre in an ecclesiastical and state sense.

The Metropolitan Church of Kiev and All Russia was divided into two – Kiev and Moscow

In the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was established, which included parts of the former state of Kyiv-Rusk. The struggle for the metropolitan chair of Kiev and the title of Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus’ between the neighbours of Moscow and Kiev took place during the reign of Lithuanian Grand Prince Olgerd (1345-1377). During the reign of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Wytautas (1392-1430), the Metropolitan of Kiev again began the process of reorganisation of the Ukrainian Church for the Slovenian lands under the influence of the rulers and metropolitans of Moscow, who then retained the title of Metropolitan of Kiev. An ecclesiastical council in the new circle of Kievan metropolitans in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania – Novogrudok was held in 1415. Grigory Tsamblak (†1419) was made Metropolitan of Kyiv.The final division of the Kyiv Metropolitan into two separate metropolitanates – the Kyiv Metropolitan and the Moscow Metropolitan – was made by Metropolitan Isidore of Kyiv and All Rus’ (†1463). This was spurred on by the unification of Ferrara-Florence and the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and its conversion into the capital of the Ottoman Empire with the name Istanbul. A separate Metropolitan was appointed in Moscow and de facto Autocephaly of the Metropolitan of Moscow was proclaimed in 1448. Grigory I Bolgarinovich (1458-1473) became Metropolitan of Kiev, Galitsky and all of Rus’. During this period was the beginning of the formation of separate national traditions of the Orthodox Church – Ukrainian and Russian.

The Kyiv Metropolitan and the Polish-Lithuanian State in the 15th-18th centuries

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (the Kyiv Metropolitan) existed separately in the Polish-Lithuanian state after the residual separation of the Moscow Metropolitan from it. From the second half of the 15th century, the Kyiv Metropolitans were elected to office and then confirmed by the patriarchs of Constantinople. Among the canonised saints of this period, the most famous is the holy Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and all of Rus’, Saint Makary (+ 1497). Throughout the 16th century, the metropolitanates of Kiev convened ecclesiastical councils to solve problems in the life of the church. However, there were not many of them at the beginning of the 16th century (the Provincial Ecclesiastical Council of 1509), but the number of councils in the second half of the 16th century increased significantly due to the complication of the internal church situation. A significant increase and the last council that divided the Kyiv Metropolitan into Orthodox and non-Orthodox parts was the Council of Berestiisk in 1596. During this period, the Brotherhood of the Orthodox Church became active, and the most important and influential were the brotherhoods in Lviv and Vilna. The second half of the 16th century. Holy Prince Vasyl Kostyantyn Ostrozky (1527-1608) founded the Ostroz Academy, which produced the Ostroz Bible (1581).

The development of Ukrainian theology in the 16th century is characterised by the appearance of works in the field by Ivan Vishensky, Vasil Surrazky, Gerasim Smotrytsky and others.
Under the rule of Polish King Sigismund III Waza (1536-1632), the church was established an ecclesiastical union with Rome in June 1595. In Beresti in 1596, simultaneous Orthodox and Roman-Uniatsky councils were held, whose decisions remained to cement the division of the Kyiv Metropolitan. Fighting for the protection of the Orthodox faith was a Ukrainian Cossack led by Ukrainian hetman Peter Konashevich-Sagaidachny, who supported the 1615 establishment of the Brotherhood of the Epiphany in Kyiv. Under the conditions of the retreat of the Orthodox into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Orthodox hierarchy was renewed in 1620.
Patriarch Theophanes III of Jerusalem and All Palestine (d. 1644), who consecrated Metropolitan Job Boretsky of Kiev.

Metropolitan of Kiev, Galitzky and All Russia Peter Mohyla (1632-1647) was appointed to the metropolitan chair of Kiev under difficult conditions of internal Church opposition in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. To end the war and to engage the church-political opposition, the ‘Points of Reconciliation’ of 1632 were adopted, which declared the Orthodox Metropolitan of Kyiv a state power. St. Peter Mohyla’s ecclesiastical activity focused on the renewal of the Orthodox Church, the establishment of the Kyiv-Mohyla College for the development of Orthodox education and theology.

Kiev Metropolitans of the early 18th century, serving as metropolitans during the Khmelnichnychchynia period and striving to preserve the status of the Kyiv Metropolitan in canonical integrity with the Patriarchate of Constantinople on the right bank of Ukraine – Silvestr Kosiv († 1657), Dionisy Balaban († 1663), Josyf Nelyubovych-Tukalsky († 1676). The 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslavl was the cause of the increased efforts of the Moscow Order and the Moscow Patriarchate to impose jurisdiction over the Kyiv Metropolitan. During this period, Archbishop Lazar Baranovych of Chernigiv and Bishop Methodius Filimonovych acted as ‘supervisors’ of the Kyiv Metropolitan See on the left bank of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Metropolitan Church) during the Synodal Period (1686-1721-1917)

The policy of the Moscow Church in Ukraine from 1686 after the non-canonical affiliation of the Kyiv Metropolitan to the Moscow Patriarchate was evident in all spheres of church life. The Kyyiv Metropolia was territorially limited by the number of dioceses belonging to it until 1686 and then joined the Moscow Patriarchate in 1589. A 16th century extension saw the abolition of church rights and the autonomy of the Kyiv Metropolitan.

In 1700-1721, the institution of the Patriarchate in the Russian Orthodox Church was abolished by the Russian Emperor Peter I Romanov and the government of the church was transferred to the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church (1721-1917). Rector of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy, then Archbishop of Velikonovgorod and Velikolukiye Lutsy (1681-1736) was the author of the document ‘Spiritual Regulations’ that introduced a new form of Orthodox Church government in the Russian Empire.
Given the lack of an adequate system of spiritual education and the lack of development of Church life in Russia, at the urging of the Russian emperors there was a mass exodus of Ukrainian hierarchs, clergy and church figures to serve in the Russian Empire during the 16th century. (Metropolitan Stefan Yavorsky, St. Dimitrios of Rostov, etc.).

Under the influence of the Russian Empire’s policies, the 16th century metropolitans of Kiev, although Ukrainian by birth, gradually became enforcers of the orders of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on the implementation of Ukrainian church life according to Russian standards.

Ukrainian Orthodox Church on the Right Bank of Ukraine in the 16th-16th Centuries
At the beginning of the 16th century, there was a transition of the Orthodox jurisdictions of Galicia and Volyn towards unity, which became the realisation of a certain policy of the Bishop of Lviv Josip Shumliaks (1643-1748), first Orthodox and then unique.

The struggles of the Orthodox in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth led to the revolt called ‘Koljivschina’ (1768), which was suppressed by the governments of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Russian Empire. The Orthodox Church during three suborders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1772-1795) was gradually subordinated to the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Council of the Polish Orthodox Church in 1791

The Polish royal government attempted to assume the protection of the Orthodox subjects of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and to improve the internal organisation of the Ukrainian-Bilivarian Orthodox Church, as well as to reassign its jurisdiction from the Patriarchate of Constantinople, but Russian expansionists blocked these plans.

The reorganisation of the Metropolitan of Kiev into a first-class diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church took place after the Russian Empire had taken complete possession of Ukrainian lands, with the exception of Galicia, in the early 18th century.

The Orthodox Church in Ukrainian lands in the structure of the Russian Empire in the 19th and early 20th century

The ecclesiastical policy of the Russian imperial order in the 19th and early 20th century was directed towards the Russification and denationalisation of Ukrainian ecclesiastical life through the targeted actions of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church and secular authorities. In contrast to the 16th century, all metropolitans of Kiev in the 19th – mid-20th century. were ethnic Russians, which guaranteed the Russian government their pro-imperial position in church matters, prevented the use of the Ukrainian language (the Ukrainian reading of the Slovak language) in divine services, and reinforced the policy of Russification.

Spiritual education in the Ukrainian lands within the Russian Empire was gradually developing as a system for the training of clergy and had a multi-stage structure. With the aim of unifying the general Russian system of spiritual education, the Kiev-Mohyla Academy was closed and the first Kiev Theological Seminary (1817-1920) and the Kiev Theological Academy (1819-1920) were opened on its basis, It became one of the four centres of spiritual and educational districts of the Russian Empire.

As a consequence of the Polish Revolt (1830-1831), it led to the liquidation of the union within the borders of the Russian Empire, which resulted in further repression of the Ukrainian and bilorussian Greek Catholics. The Cyril and Methodius Society was the first Ukrainian organisation to be accused and condemned for political reasons, in particular the Book of the Spoils of the Ukrainian People by M. I. Kostomarov.

Not long ago, a struggle began over the possibility of producing Ukrainian translations of the Holy Scriptures in the mid-19th to mid-20th century. (P. Morachevsky, P. Kulish, I. Nechuy-Levitsky, I. Pulyuy, and others). During this period, political thought and atheism were spreading in the Russian Empire, which led to the 1905 stabbing and revolution, In response, Russian nationalist organisations of the Black Hundred emerged in defence of autocracy and official orthodoxy.

The consequences of the Synod period (1721-1917) for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church were negative. During the dispersal of Orthodox parishes, the consolidation of churches and monasteries, and the organisation of the system of spiritual education, the Synod system led to the bureaucratisation of church life, the full Russification of liturgical, educational and publishing activities, and the decline of the traditions and customs of the Ukrainian Church.

Political changes in the Russian Empire, caused by the First World War (1914-1918) and the revolutions of 1917, led to the birth and further development of the Ukrainian church movement for the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (1917-1921). Archdiocesan congresses were held throughout 1917-1918 in Ukraine, the most radical in terms of the Ukrainianisation of church life being the Kyiv and Poltava diocesan congresses of 1917.

They prepared the convocation of the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to proclaim the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church and to elect the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as its metropolitan. The Ukrainian military chaplains, together with the national clergy and laity, founded the Rada of the All-Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOCR) in the autumn of 1917.

The Council of the All-Ukrainian Orthodox Church was convened in June 1918, but the delegates to the Council’s first session dispersed due to the invasion of Kyiv by black Russian troops.

After the assassination of Metropolitan Volodymyr (Bogoyavlensky) of Kyiv and Galicia in early 1918, elections for a new Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia Anthony (Khrapovitsky) were held in February 1918.

The second session of the Council ended with a split between the UOCR representatives and the pro-Russian conservative part of the delegates.

The third session of the Council approved the ‘Regulations on the Highest Provisional Administration of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine’, the text of which was blessed by Patriarch Tikhon (Bjelavin) of Moscow and All Russia. On 15 October 1918, at the third session of the Council, the Minister of Speech O. G. Lototskyy spoke about the necessity of voting for the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church. G. Lototskyy.

The Law of the Directory of the Ukrainian People’s Republic on the Autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church was passed on 1 September 1919. The actions of the Government of the Ukrainian People’s Republic concerning the canonical recognition of the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church were carried out by O. G. Lototsky. O. G. Lototskyi, who in 1919 in Constantinople sought the approval of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and I. I. Ogiyonok, who launched a campaign to collect signatures for the recognition of the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church in the captivity of Ukrainians affected by the war in Poland.

In 1919, the first Ukrainian Orthodox parafias were founded in Kiev, which acted on the basis of charters within the framework of Christian legislation. In March 1919, the Second WCRC was founded, headed by M.N. Moroz. On 5 May 1920, at a plenary meeting of the WCRP, the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church was proclaimed. The WCRP attempted to solve the problem of obtaining a canonical episcopate for the UAOC from 1919-1921, but without success.

Archbishop Parfeny (Levitsky) of Poltava collaborated with the UOCR for some time, but under pressure from the Council/Conodus of Bishops he was forced to withdraw from this collaboration. The work of the second WCRP to convene the Council of the All-Ukrainian Orthodox Church continued in 1920-1921. Its purpose was to organise a network of Ukrainianised Orthodox parishes where divine services were held in Ukrainian, as well as to seek options for the performance of the bishop’s corotonia. In June 1921, Metropolitan Michael (Yermakov), the Russian Patriarchal Exarch, was sent to Ukraine.

The Council of the All-Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the UAOC of 14-30 June 1921.

The opening of the UAOC Council was held in the Cathedral of St Sophia in Kiev on 14 November 1921. The Divine Liturgy of Metropolitan Vasyl Lipkivsky (1921-1927) took place on 23 November in Sophia Cathedral. His deputy was appointed Archbishop of the Kiev region Nethor Sharafsky. Link T. The ‘Canons of Kyiv’ approved by the First Ukrainian Council of the UAOC in 1921 declared autocephaly, synodality and Ukrainianisation as the main principles of the Church. The attitude towards the UAOC after its institutionalisation was strongly negative on the part of both the patriarchal episcopate and the renewers and Metropolitan Hilarion (Ogjenka).

Church-authority relations in the UCRR during the inter-war period were entirely based on materialist ideology and the radical law on the separation of Church from State and schools from Church. Under the conditions of the growth of the anti-Church struggle in the UCRR, the activities of the UAOC took place in the 1920s and 1930s. The basis of the anti-religious policy in the UCRR was implemented in Russia, where the Bolshevik revolution took place in 1917 and the communist experiment of building a society without religion began.

The attitude of the Radyansk authorities towards the UAOC was characterised not only by anti-religious instructions of atheistic ideology, but also by further repression, which was motivated by the accusation of ‘petlyuravshchyna’ by Ukrainian church figures.

The Second Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the UAOC was held in Sofia Cathedral from 17 to 30 June 1927. At the request of the NKVD of the UCRR, Metropolitan Vasyl Lipkivsky was removed from the UAOC administration. Mykola Boretsky (1927-1930) became the next metropolitan of the UAOC. The state of church life after the Council deteriorated dramatically due to the intensification of political repression that resulted in the outright persecution of the UAOC by the Belshovitsky regime, the mass expulsion of hierarchs and priests, and the closure and destruction of Orthodox churches. The first church council was convened in Sophia Cathedral on 28-29 September 1930.

The “self-liquidation” of the UAOC after the trial of the so-called “dissolution of the UAOC

The “Ukrainian Revolutionary Council” of 1930, which officially decided to condemn the members of the UAOC, the Second “Extraordinary” Ecclesiastical Council of the UOC was held on 8-12 August 1930, at which the founding of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (1930-1939) was voted. Ivan Pavlovsky (1930-1936) became Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The liquidation of church life in the UCRR took place on the eve of the Second World War when, following the repression of the radical authorities against all churches, the liquidation of church centres, and the shooting of metropolitans, the episcopate and clergy were more or less completely destroyed.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church was formed in Ukrainian lands in the Second Rzeczpospolita (1918-1939) as a result of the creation of the independent Polish state, which on its territory became part of the Russian Orthodox Church with a Ukrainian and Belarusian Orthodox population. The Pochaivskiy Congress of 1921 passed a resolution on the Ukrainianisation of church life. Jurij (Jaroszewski) became Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland and Exarch of the Patriarch of Moscow in 1921, which reorganised the leadership of the Orthodox Church in Poland. After the assassination of Metropolitan Jurij (Jaroszewski) on 8 February 1923, Metropolitan Dionigi (1923-1948) was elected Metropolitan of Warsaw, Wolinia and All Poland. With the support of the Polish government, the Patriarchal and Synodal-Canonical Tomos of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople of 13 November 1924 was received, which declared the act of union of the Metropolitan of Kiev with the Moscow Patriarchate of 1686 non-canonical.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church during World War II (1939-1945)

Church life in the western Volyn region, which became part of the USSR in 1939-1941, also suffered negative influences, including the re-examination of the clergy by the radiant power. Thanks to the work of Metropolitan Mikolay (Yarushevich), the Orthodox dioceses, which until then belonged to the jurisdiction of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church, were reorganised with the Moscow Patriarchate. The movement of the Ukrainian Church in the general government of the Third Reich (1939-1941) led to the Ukrainianisation of church life and the consecration of the Ukrainian Orthodox hierarchy, including the Archbishop of Kholmsk and Pliny Ilarion (Ogjenek). After the outbreak of war between Germany and the USSR, the Council of Bishops in Pochaevi on 18 September 1941 initiated a division in the Orthodox Church in the “liberated lands” by proclaiming the Ukrainian Autonomous Church canonically united with the Moscow Patriarchate in the USSR. The birth of the UAOC began with the decree of Metropolitan Dionisy (Valedynskyi) on 24 December 1941, which appointed Archbishop Polikarp (Sikorskyi) administrator of the Orthodox Church in the “liberated lands” of Ukraine. The first consecration of the Ukrainian bishops of the UAOC took place on 8-10 February 1942 in Pinsk. The Moscow Patriarchate, while in Ulyanovsk, spoke against Metropolitan Polikarp (Sikorsky) with a large messenger and pronounced an “anathema”. The consecration of the Ukrainian bishops in the Kyiv-Andria Church was conducted by the Council of Bishops of the UAOC from 10-17 January 1942. The unification of the autocephalous and autonomous Churches was attempted and even the “Act of Union” was signed on 8 June 1942 at the Holy Dormition Pochaivska Lavra. However, due to the protest of the bishops of the Ukrainian Autonomous Church and the non-recognition of this “Act” by the German authorities, the unification process ceased. After Ukraine was “liberated” from the German armies and the radiant administration was restored, the hierarchs of all Orthodox churches, together with part of the clergy and priests, fled abroad in 1943-1944.

After World War II (1945-1990), the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate operating in the USSR under the terms of the 1943 ‘Moscow Concordat’. After 1946, the Ukrainian Patriarchate of the Moscow Patriarchate was restructured within the USSR. The Ukrainian Patriarchate of the Moscow Patriarchate during the years of Khrushchev’s persecution of the Orthodox Church in the USSR in the 1950s and 1960s experienced another attack by an atheistic state on the ecclesiastical environment, because in Ukraine, during the period of non-spiritual repression and liquidation of church life in the Soviet Union since 1922, there was still a large number of monasteries, parishes and Orthodox churches. The Patriarchal Exarch Metropolitan Filaret of Kyiv and Galicia (Denysenko) held the archpastoral ministry at the Kyiv Chair from 1966 to 1990. During his time at the head of the Ukrainian diocese, the Orthodox Church in Ukraine remained part of the Moscow Patriarchate in the USSR, but without a defined canonical status.

Organisation of Ukrainian Church life on the immigrant scene in the USA, Canada and Western Europe (1945-1990)

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church Abroad was formed in the early 20th century by several waves of immigrants from various parts of Ukraine, mainly on the lands of the United States and Canada. Hierarchs, clergy and members of the UAOC led by Metropolitan Polikarp (Sokorsky) rushed to the tents of displaced persons in Germany, Austria, Great Britain and other war-torn western European countries (1945-1953). Following the split of the Church in August 1947, the UAOC (Sobornopravna) emerged in Aschaffenburz who took over the UAOC from Metropolitan Vasyl Lipkivsky. Metropolitan Nykanor (Abramovich) had been the representative of the UAROC in Western Europe until 1969. After his retirement, Metropolitan Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) took over the leadership of the UAOC in Western Europe, as well as the UOC in the USA after Metropolitan John Theodorovych. Thus, the unification of the Ukrainian Orthodox beyond the borders of the UOCRD took place. The Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church in Canada in 1924-1947 was founded by Metropolitan John Theodorovitch, followed by Metropolitan Mstyslav (Skripnik) and from 1951 by Metropolitan Ilarion (Ogionok) (1882-1972) of Western Europe and all of Canada. The unification of the UGCC with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople took place in 1990.

The third dissolution of the UAOC and the establishment of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (1990-1992)

In February 1989, an initiative committee was formed to revive the UAOC by radicals, activists, civic activists and students. The consecration of the UAOC hierarchs took place in the spring of 1990. Following the Kyiv Patriarchate’s proclamation of the UAOC, a Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was convened on 5 and 6 June 1990. Metropolitan Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) (1990-1993) was elected the first Patriarch of Kyiv and all of Ukraine. He arrived in Kyiv in the spring of 1990 for an enthronement ceremony in the Cathedral of St. Sophia.

The change of the Ukrainian Patriarchate from the Moscow Patriarchate to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church occurred in 1990, when the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was established as canonically part of the Moscow Patriarchate. Metropolitan Filaret of Kyiv and all of Ukraine began working to expand the autonomy of the UOC under the new political conditions. The granting of autonomy and independence in the governance of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by His Holiness Alexis II (Rydiger), Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, took place in January 1990, and Metropolitan Filaret of Kyiv and All Ukraine received the appropriate diploma. After Ukraine declared its independence on 24 September 1991, Metropolitan Filaret of Kyiv and All Ukraine met at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra with the Lenten Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOCOC) from 1-3 November 1991 and approved a decision on Autocephaly and officially requested that the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church be confirmed. This led to the revision of the statutory provisions of the UOCOC and the 1991 Lenten Council decisions by the Archdiocesan Council of the ROC in February and June 1992. As a result of the ROC’s anti-canonical actions to discredit Metropolitan Filaret of Kyiv and all of Ukraine for his efforts to canonically acquire the autocephalous status of the UOC, a provisional meeting of the UOC episcopate was held in Kharkiv in December 1992. In June 1992, Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) of Rostov and Novocherkassk, Russian Orthodox Church, came to Ukraine and confirmed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in canonical integrity with the Moscow Patriarchate.

L’istituzione della Chiesa Ortodossa Ucraina del Patriarcato di Kyiv come Chiesa memoriale del popolo ucraino fu il risultato del Consiglio Generale Ortodosso ucraino del 25-26 giugno 1992. Il Patriarca di Kyiv e di tutta l’Ucraina Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) ha eletto la Chiesa ortodossa ucraina del Patriarcato di Kyiv in seguito all’unificazione dell’UAOC e parte dell’UOC, che era rappresentata dal Metropolita Philaret e dal Vescovo Yakov (Panchuk). Alcuni di coloro che non erano d’accordo con le decisioni del Consiglio unanime di vescovi, chierici e laici dell’UAOC hanno dichiarato la creazione di una “UAOC” separata nel 1993. In seguito al riposo del Patriarca di Kyiv Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) negli Stati Uniti, un Consiglio della Chiesa Ortodossa Ucraina è stato convocato a Kyiv il 21-24 giugno 1993 per concelebrare il Patriarca Volodymyr (Romaniuk) di Kyiv e di tutta l’Ucraina. La morte del Patriarca Volodymyr (Romaniuk) e il suo funerale furono accompagnati da eventi tragici e furono conosciuti come “Il quartiere nero” il 18 giugno 1995. Il Consiglio della Chiesa ortodossa di tutta l’Ucraina del 20-22 giugno 1995 ha chiamato il Patriarca di Kyiv e di tutta la Rus’ Ucraina Filaret (Denysenko). Nel 1995 fu fondata la Chiesa ortodossa ucraina del Patriarcato di Kyiv e la Chiesa ortodossa ucraina del Patriarcato di Kyiv crebbe quantitativamente. Nello stesso anno, l’Archimandrita Vladimir (ora arcivescovo Vladimir) ha partecipato come delegato al Sinodo nell’ottobre 1995 alle elezioni del Patriarca, Sua Santità Filaret.

In Italy, Metropolitan Evlogios of Milan, assisted by Bishop Basil of Ostia and Bishop Vigil of Paris, will lead His Holiness Patriarch Filaret. These three bishops ordained Archimandrite Vladimir (now Archbishop Vladimir) a bishop in 1995.

His Holiness Filaret devoted all his energies to the development of the local Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which should unite all Orthodox within the united Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate. A month later, by the decree of Patriarch Filaret of Kiev, with the participation of Metropolitan Evlogios of Milan (Italy), Bishop Basil of Ostia and Bishop Vyhilij of Paris, Archimandrite Vladimir was ordained Bishop of St. Julius (the first Bishop ordained under the jurisdiction and homophorion of His Holiness Patriarch Filaret.

In December 1995, Bishop Vladimir became Secretary of the Holy Eparchial Synod (Kiev Patriarchate) of Western Europe and Canada. He remained secretary of the Holy Synod until 1997.

On 12 May 1996, Bishop Vladimir took part in the ordination of Michel La Roche (now Metropolitan of Kursun of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate).

On 13 May 1996 Bishop Vladimir received the title of Bishop of San Giulio e Genova (Italy) and was appointed Vicar of the Milan Diocese of the Kiev Patriarchate (a document signed by all members of the Holy Synod). Bishop Vladimir remained in his high position as Secretary of the Holy Eparchial Synod of Western Europe and Canada (Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate).

On 20 February 1997, the Kiev Patriarchate withdrew the institution of the Eparchial Synod of Western Europe (Kiev Patriarchate). The appointment of His Eminence Evlogios was withdrawn and he was ousted from the Holy Synod of the Kiev Patriarchate. The Western European bishops Vladyka Basil, Vladyka Vladimir and Vladyka Michel are canonically dependent directly on Kiev.

In 1997, according to the Kiev Patriarchate, any document or decision of the so-called ‘Synod of Milan’ does not act canonically in relation to the Kiev Patriarchate, as it was created outside canonical communion with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. All “bishops” who were “ordained” by the so-called Synod of Milan after 20 February 1997 are considered anti-canonical and are not recognised by the Kiev Patriarchate.

All ‘bishops’ who were therefore ordained by the so-called Synod of Milan after 20 February 1997 are de facto not part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

For this reason, Bishop Vladimir broke off communion with the former Metropolitan of Milan Evlogios.

Only Metropolitan Evlogios (Eulogij) was expelled from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, as the synod documents show, while other bishops, such as Archbishop Basil, Bishop Vladimir, Bishop Lavrentij and Bishop Michel, remained under the jurisdiction of the Kiev Patriarchate.

In 2003, Archbishop Lazar (Puhalo) of Ottawa and Varlaam of the Eparchial Synod of Western Europe and Canada were received into the Moscow Patriarchate (by the Orthodox Church in America) without receiving new consecrations.

In 2007, Bishop Vladimir and Archbishop Basil left the Archdiocese of Milan of the Kiev Patriarchate and founded an Italian cult organisation, which was later registered with the Ministry of the Interior of the Italian Republic.

This act was permitted without receiving any sanction from the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate.

Archbishop Vladimir became the de facto spiritual head of that body and assumed the position of Metropolitan.

On 12 February 2009, Bishop Theodoro, born Armando Corino, was consecrated as Bishop of Heraclea.

The Italian Orthodox Church

Archbishop Basil decided autonomously to join the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in Italy founded by Archbishop Antonio De Rosso, becoming de facto Vicar General of the Orthodox Church in Italy.
Archbishop Vladimir temporarily retired to monastic life.

Following these events, Bishop Theodoro decided to found the Autonomous Orthodox Church in Italy and assumed the title of Metropolitan Archbishop of Italy, remaining Bishop of the Diocese of Heraclea.

The Italian Autonomous Orthodox Church is still identified as un emanation of the Kiev Patriarchate (U.A.O.C.).

On 20 February 2022, the Metropolitan Archbishop Theodoro  consecrated the Commendatory Abbot of the Abbey Principality of Seborga, His Most Reverend Highness Giovanni Luca, born Gianluca de Lucia, as Bishop of Seborga, and conferred on him the title of Archbishop of the Principality of Monaco and the Principality of Seborga, and welcomed him into the Holy Synod.

The Monastic Order of Seborga by its constitution has assumed a hybrid theological form that welcomes Catholic and Orthodox Christians and dialogues with all the Christians of the world.
By the will of His Most Reverend Highness Giovanni Luca, Prince-Abate of Seborga, who presides over the Monastic Order, a communion with the Italian Autonomous Orthodox Church has been established, although this Order remains incardinated in the Monegasque Worship Body “Polish National Catholic Church in Monaco”, a mission of the homonymous Vetero-Catholic Church “Polish National Catholic Church” based in the State of Pennsylvenia (USA).