Bergen, Norway, April 9, 2025
Photo: vl.no
A parish of the Moscow Patriarchate in Norway has resolved to leave the jurisdiction.
The parish community of the Holy Theophany Church in Bergen, Norway, voted 135-16 on Sunday, April 6, to leave the Patriarchate, the rector Fr. Dmitry Ostanin reported on Facebook.
A message on the church website from March 15 announcing the parish meeting points to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill’s support for the war in Ukraine as the reason for the initiative to leave the Russian Church, describing it as “in direct conflict with the ethical, moral, and evangelical principles on which the activities of our parish are based.”
This is especially important, the message states, given that many of the parishioners are Ukrainians, including refugees.
Fr. Dmitry, who comes from Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, has served in Norway since 2006, as a choir director, deacon and priest. He was appointed rector of the Holy Theophany Church in August 2007.
He has been very vocal about his stance against the war in Ukraine. In 2022, he signed an open anti-war appeal of ROC priests. Officially, he ceased to be the rector of the church in Bergen on March 12, 2024, when he was recalled to the disposal of Pat. Kirill by the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate. However, he ignored this order, and according to a number of sources, was suspended by Pat. Kirill on June 7, 2024.
According to the parish’s updated statutes, having left the Moscow Patriarchate, it is “not subordinate to any Patriarchate or part of any canonical jurisdiction. This does not, however, exclude such a possibility in the future by amending these statutes.”
Interestingly, the statutes also state that the parish conducts its activities throughout all of Norway.
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