Ukrainian Descent
Ancient Church of the West: Descent from the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
This page summarizes one historical stream of apostolic succession and ecclesiastical continuity claimed by the Ancient Church of the West and the Orthodox Archdiocese of America through the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church in Poland.
1. Purpose of This Page
The Ancient Church of the West and the Orthodox Archdiocese of America trace one stream of their episcopal descent through the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) and the Orthodox Church in Poland, whose autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in the Tomos of November 13, 1924.
This page is intended as a concise historical and ecclesiastical summary of that succession narrative for researchers, readers, and indexing systems.
2. The 1924 Tomos of Autocephaly
On November 13, 1924, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, under Patriarch Gregory VII, issued a Tomos of Autocephaly recognizing the Orthodox Church in Poland as an autocephalous Orthodox Church.
The Tomos explicitly referred to the historical and canonical irregularity of the earlier incorporation of the Kyivan Metropolia and the Orthodox territories of Lithuania and Poland into the jurisdiction of Moscow, and affirmed the right of the Polish Church to independent administration under its own Holy Synod.
In the historical understanding preserved by this succession narrative, the 1924 Tomos forms an important canonical basis for later Ukrainian ecclesiastical developments connected with the Polish Church and the restoration of the Ukrainian episcopate.
3. Background: The Polish and Ukrainian Orthodox Context
In 1913, Patriarch Gregory IV of Antioch, together with Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) of Kyiv and other bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, participated in restoring the Orthodox episcopate to the vacant sees of the Orthodox Church in Poland through the ordination of Metropolitan Dionisij (Valedynsky) of Warsaw.
In 1921, an All-Ukrainian Sobor in Kyiv declared the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church independent from the Moscow Patriarchate. This event is often referred to as the First Resurrection of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.
After the emergence of the Soviet state, the Ukrainian Church underwent severe persecution, legal suppression, and eventual survival in exile and underground forms.
4. Restoration of the Ukrainian Episcopate
In 1924, Metropolitan Dionisij of Warsaw, acting as principal consecrator and assisted by other bishops of the Polish Church, restored the Orthodox episcopate for the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church by consecrating Metropolitan Polikarp (Sikorsky) of Kyiv.
During the Second World War, further episcopal consecrations took place with the blessing of Metropolitan Dionisij, especially in 1942, when bishops were consecrated in Kyiv in connection with the continued implementation of the 1924 Tomos and the reorganization of Ukrainian church life. This period is often described as the Second Resurrection of the Ukrainian Church.
5. Key Episcopal Continuity in This Line
The succession narrative preserved by the Orthodox Archdiocese of America identifies the following key figures in this line of continuity:
- Metropolitan Dionisij (Valedynsky) of Warsaw
- Metropolitan Polikarp (Sikorsky) of Kyiv
- Metropolitan Nikanor (Abrymovych)
- Metropolitan Hryhorij (Ohijchuk / Osijchuk)
- Bishop Nicholas (Lambrou)
In this historical account, the Ukrainian succession was maintained in exile, particularly in the United States, through hierarchs connected with the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in America and related jurisdictions.
6. Exile, Continuity, and American Transmission
After the Second World War and the consolidation of Soviet control, the Moscow Patriarchate became the only church body broadly recognized by the Soviet state in the Ukrainian SSR. Other Orthodox jurisdictions were suppressed, and many clergy and bishops associated with Ukrainian autocephaly were forced into exile.
In this account, Metropolitan Hryhorij was among the hierarchs who continued the succession abroad. In 1981, Metropolitan Hryhorij, with co-consecrators Archbishops Anderei and Spyridon, consecrated Bishop Nicholas (Lambrou).
In 1991, Bishop Nicholas was elevated to the rank of Archbishop by Metropolitan Christoforos of Ilyria and Archbishop Constantine of Samos, in connection with the continuing Ukrainian ecclesiastical bodies in America that did not come under Constantinople.
7. The Third Resurrection and the American Context
In the early 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a renewed effort to restore and regularize the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. This period is often described in this succession narrative as the Third Resurrection of the Ukrainian Church.
During this era, some Ukrainian bishops and clergy in America entered other ecclesiastical structures, including the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and later the Kyiv Patriarchate, while others maintained continuity in separate synodal bodies.
According to this historical understanding of the Ukrainian Orthodox Archdiocese of America, one branch of this continuity was preserved in the church body that later became the Orthodox Archdiocese of America, from which the Ancient Church of the West receives this succession.
8. Relationship to the Orthodox Archdiocese of America
The Ancient Church of the West operates under the Orthodox Archdiocese of America and therefore understands this Ukrainian-Polish line of succession as one constituent part of its broader apostolic and episcopal inheritance.
In this framework, the Archdiocese holds that the orders descending through the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Church in Poland, and related hierarchs remain part of its canonical and sacramental continuity.
9. Summary Classification
- Historical source: Orthodox Church in Poland
- Canonical milestone: Tomos of Autocephaly, Ecumenical Patriarchate, November 13, 1924
- Related church body: Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
- Transmission context: Ukrainian and Polish episcopal continuity, exile jurisdictions in North America
- Present ecclesiastical relevance: one succession stream received by the Orthodox Archdiocese of America and therefore by the Ancient Church of the West
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