What changes have taken place in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church during 30 years of autonomy, says Metropolitan Anthoniy (Pakanich), Managing Director of the UOC.

Soon we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of receiving the Blessed Diploma of the Moscow Patriarch Aleksiy II on the granting of independence to the Ukrainian Church and autonomy in its governance.

30 years is the age of spiritual maturity, it is practically life. Let’s remember that exactly at thirty the Lord Jesus Christ came out to preach to the world.

And now we can sum up certain results. During these thirty, both quantitative and qualitative changes have occurred.

In the first years of independence, our Church faced enormous problems. The former primate of the UOC, Metropolitan Filaret, caused a schism, creating the «Kiev Patriarchate», and tried to split its children from the Church. At the same time, state structures were entirely on the side of the schismatics. However, the Church withstood.

Something similar happened a quarter of a century later, when our Church again experienced tremendous pressure from the authorities, requiring mechanical unification with unrepentant schismatics and submission to the Patriarch of Constantinople.

And so, despite all the pressure and persecution, the Church continues to grow and develop. New churches continue to be built; new communities open. Without state support, and sometimes in spite of anti-church officials. Not at the expense of seizures, as we see with the schismatics, but at the expense of living people.

And this, it seems to me, is the main sign that our Church is alive and Christ is with her.