Thirteen people received the right to vote. From the Apostolic Orthodox Church, the assembly included Archbishop Geronty (Khovansky), Archbishop Stefan, Archpriest Sergiy Vutyanov, Archpriest Valery Zuriashvili-Zamoshnikov, Priest Alexander Titov, Priest Leonid Perminov and Deacon Valery Krivenda, who served as secretary of the council. From the Apostolic Orthodox Church in Ukraine, Archbishop Konstantin (Miskiv) and Protopresbyter Sergiy Fomin voted. From the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church came Archbishop Nikolai (Blazinsky), Bishop Dimitri Krikun, Bishop Vitaly (Gunko) and Bishop Grigory (Krentsiv). Geronty, Vitaly and Grigory participated by telephone. Bishop Vladimir (Vilde) attended as a consultant, without the right to vote.
Formally, this was a meeting convened by decision of the Synod of the Apostolic Orthodox Church of 29 November 2015. However, its participants declared the gathering a Local Council, and all decisions were adopted unanimously. Those assembled united into a single centralized organization, recognized the independence of the group that had met in Kolomyia on 21 November 2015 and called itself the Apostolic Orthodox Church, and created a commission on the statute. The main decision was the course toward autocephaly, that is, church independence without subordination to another local church.
The senior by ordination among those present was Archbishop Geronty. He withdrew himself and proposed the candidacy of Stefan, whom the council elected metropolitan. The final document contains a fundamental caveat about the nature of authority in the new structure:
“the main issues of the church's life are decided conciliarly, and not by the primate elected at the Council”
During the period of formation, the episcopal council and the Synod were recognized as equal bodies. Thus governance was not concentrated in one person, even the primate.
Background of the split and Stefan's path
The council of 23 December was the result of several years of internal movement within the apostolic tradition on Ukrainian territory. In October 2013, the council of the Apostolic Church in Kyiv introduced the election of primates for four-year terms, and Oleg (Vedmedenko) became Metropolitan of Kyiv instead of Viktor Veryaskin, who had previously headed the Kyiv metropolitanate. At the same time, Metropolitan Vitaly (Kuzhevatov) was re-elected primate of the Apostolic Church, and he later signed the Synod's decision of 2015.
Stefan (Negrebetsky), born in 1942, was known in Kyiv also during the events on the Maidan. In December 2013, on the Maidan, he stopped a crowd ready to march to the Kyiv City Council building. Archpriest Sergiy Vutyanov, rector of the Kyiv community, brought the community's icons to the Maidan in early January 2014. The tent-church burned down on 19 February 2014, but the icons were saved.
In April 2015, the Synod of the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the Apostolic Church received Stefan in his existing rank, and his see became Kyiv and Bohuslav. For the Kyiv community this was recognition of the archbishop's long-standing work; he had participated in the Maidan's Spiritual Council.
The break within the Apostolic Church occurred in November 2015. On 22 November, Oleg (Vedmedenko) and Vladimir (Mocharnik) announced the creation of the Ukrainian Non-Canonical Autocephalous Church. On 29 November, the Synod of the Apostolic Church released them, recognized the new structure as a sister church and transferred the Ukrainian metropolitanate to autocephalous self-governance. It entrusted the convening of the council to Archbishop Stefan. That is why the assembly of 23 December became not only a unification but also a turning point for the entire structure.
Council decisions and the path ahead
The council named its areas of work: social and missionary service, training of priests, publication of a church newspaper. The next Local Council was scheduled for 20 June 2016, the Day of the Holy Spirit, in Kyiv. On the anniversary of the death of Archpriest Gleb Yakunin, secretary of the Synod of the Apostolic Church, the council glorified him as a confessor.
Subsequent events confirmed the direction set in December 2015. On the website of the Apostolic Orthodox Church in Ukraine, a tomos granting full autocephalous self-governance to the Kyiv metropolitanate dated 15 March 2016 was published, and on 19 March 2016 a decree approving the decisions of the Local Council was issued. In June 2019, the council renamed the church the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, joined the jurisdiction of Archbishop Lorenzo of Italy and adopted a twelve-point declaration. In April 2019, Stefan participated in a round table dedicated to the Day of Freedom of Conscience organized by Ukrinform.
Oleg (Vedmedenko) died in November 2021. On 19 February 2022, bishops of the Apostolic Church of Ukraine, Russia and the USA issued a joint appeal.
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