THE ISSUE OF CANONICITY AND APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION IN THE EPISCOPATE OF THE UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX AUTOCEPHALIC SYNODAL CHURCH

Abstract

Apostolic succession is one of the cornerstones of ecclesiology, expressing the continuous transmission of grace and church authority from the apostles to their successors through the laying on of hands. Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest, by the power of eternal life (Heb. 7:13,17), after the accomplishment of His saving feat and resurrection from the dead, granted the apostles – and in their person and their successors – through the Holy Spirit the exclusive right to be mediators between God and man for teaching, sacred service and governance in the Church. The article is devoted to the analysis of the theological and canonical understanding of apostolic succession, when a dispute arose within the Orthodox Church regarding the grace and canonical legitimacy of the renewal hierarchy. The purpose of the article is to analyze the apostolic reception of the episcopate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Autocephalous Synodal Church (UPASC), the process of their acceptance into the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and examples of polemics regarding the canonicity of some Renewal bishops.

The main emphasis is on the analysis of the positions of the Russian Orthodox Church regarding the apostolic reception of the Renewal hierarchy and the approach of the UPASC, which sought to preserve unity with universal Orthodoxy. Special attention is paid to the issues of arguing for the gracelessness of Renewal bishops and the order of their acceptance into the ROC. The final part of the article considers a specific example of a polemic between representatives of the two directions, which demonstrates the practical application of theological arguments in the process of determining canonicity. The results of the study show that the discussion about apostolic succession in the 1920s was not only theoretical, but also ecclesiological-political in nature: it revealed a deep difference in the understanding of the nature of the Church, its catholicity, and the limits of grace.