The head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine said that he is open to receiving bishops, dioceses, and parishes from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) into his church.

“We have already started this dialogue from the bottom up because we accept those parishes that are ready for unity,” said Metropolitan Epiphanius I. “The process has progressed in various areas, not only in the west and center, but also in the east, in Kyiv, and in the south … What is done with love will have a future, and what with compulsion will not.”

The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, who holds a primacy of honor among the Orthodox churches, granted canonical recognition to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in 2019—a decision condemned by the Russian Orthodox Church.