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Question:
In my efforts to locate an
Orthodox Church in Phoenix, AZ I have come across a Church (St.
Gregory Ukrainian Orthodox Pro-Cathedral) affliated with the The
Orthodox Church of Canada + Ukrainian Autocephalous
Mission Archeparchy . Is
this church part of true orthodoxy? (Ukrainian, Russian,
Orthodox Church in America, etc....) |
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Answer:
Very
Rev. Ihor Kutash
kutash@unicorne.org
This is a non-canonical group about which
I know very little. I have looked at their website
www.orthodoxchurchcanada.org (as I am sure you have as well).
Non-canonical groups are not in communion with the family of Orthodox
Churches throughout the world. Since, by reason of the ecclesiology we
hold, we have no central bishop to keep us in communion with each other
our bishops recognize and concelebrate with each other, presided over -
on special occasions - by the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Non-canonical groups arise when some bishops or priests - who may or may
not have been ordained by a canonical bishop or bishops - gather communities
together and seek to follow the Orthodox faith as best they may,
as it were, on their own. Sometimes
non-canonical groups apply for inclusion into the canonical family of
Orthodox Churches through one of the bishops of that family. It happens at times that
they are then received and become a visible part of that family.
Some of these groups may be quite reputable. Or they may be on the way to
becoming so.
I suppose you will be able to judge better whether or not you ought to
become a part of this community you have found when you visit them for a
bit. It may also be safer, if you are seeking for a more certain link with
Orthodoxy, if you attend a Church within the canonical family, whether or not it
professes to be
Ukrainian. (I have found, upon researching some groups who call themselves
"Ukrainian", that their connection to things Ukrainian is quite tenuous.)
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