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Moscow, May 30, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia commented for the first time on the outcomes of the recent Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) after the liturgy at the Christ the Savior Cathedral on Sunday.

"We fully understand how the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is suffering today. We are sympathetic that His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry and the episcopate should act as wisely as possible today in order not to complicate the lives of its faithful people," the patriarch said after the liturgy at the Christ the Savior Cathedral on Sunday.

Last Friday, the UOC Council of Bishops disagreed with Patriarch Kirill's stance on the Russian military special operation in Ukraine and endorsed amendments to the charter, which, as announced, make the UOC independent. Later it became known that not all dioceses, in particular the Donetsk and Crimean dioceses, backed the amendments to the UOC charter and, respectively, the independent status will not affect the entire Ukrainian Church.

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