All bishops in Ukraine are being told to "wait for the Ecumenical Patriarchate's directive concerning their further functioning and existence", because allegedly "the church of the Moscow Patriarchate no longer exists in Ukraine today."
On October 11, the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate claimed to abolish the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church over all Ukrainian bishops. Therefore, they claim that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church no longer exists in Ukraine, and that its bishops no longer report to the Moscow Patriarchate.
"It is very important that the decision of the Synod of October 11 revoked the act of 1686. From a canonical point of view, this means that the church of the Moscow Patriarchate no longer exists in Ukraine today," Archbishop Job (Getcha) of Telmessos, Archbishop of the Church of Constantinople, representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the World Council of Churches, said in an interview with BBC Ukraine.
According to him, de facto all the bishops in Ukraine, according to the decision of the Synod, are the bishops of the Ecumenical Throne and now they "should wait for the Ecumenical Patriarchate's directive concerning their further functioning and existence amid the prospect of granting the autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine."
In response to these events, numerous parishes in Ukraine remain loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate, and a number of churches and priests have abandoned the Patriarch of Constantinople, in favor of the Russian Church.
Source: UkrInform.net