The Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate lifted the anathema from Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate Filaret and the Head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Autocephalous Church Makariy and canonically reinstated them to their hierarchical rank. The Ecumenical Patriarchate also revoked the legal binding of 1686, which granted the right through oikonomia to the Patriarch of Moscow to ordain the Metropolitan of Kyiv, and declared that the Church of Kyiv always obeyed and obeys directly to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The head of the UOC-KP, Filaret has said that now, in order to get autocephaly, the Ukrainian Church needs only to hold the Clergy-Laity Assembly to unite the Church.
Tomos is a great step towards strengthening the unity and national identity of one part of the Ukrainian population, but, at the same time, it is a potential for provocations involving the other part of the population, sensitive to Russian manipulations, and may worsen the Ukrainian-Russian confrontation.
