Symeon (Shostatsky)

Volodymyr Ivanovych Shostatsky was born to a peasant family on November 3, 1962 in the village of Raykivtsi in the Khmelnytsky district of the Khmelnytsky region.[1]

In 1980 he graduated from high school and served in the army until 1982. From 1983 to 1987 he studied at the Vinnytsia Medical Institute, and from 1987 to 1991 at the Moscow Theological Seminary.[1]

In the UOC (MP)

During the Liturgy in Zimnensky Monastery on September 24, 2010.

On December 6, 1990, in the Moscow Danilov Monastery, he became a monk named Symeon (Russian pronunciation: Simeon) in honor of Simeon Stylites. On January 14, 1991, he was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon, on April 28 he was omade hieromonk. From 1990 to 1994 he was a caretaker at the Patriarchal Residence in the Moscow Danilov Monastery.[1]

In 1994 he became a sacrist in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra and entered the Kiev Theological Academy. On April 7, 1995, he was ordained to the rank of igumen (abbot), on November 23 of the same year he was made archimandrite.[1]

On May 4, 1996, he was ordained bishop of Volodymyr-Volynskyi and Kovel, head of the newly formed Volodymyr-Volynskyi diocese.[1]

On May 10, 2002, he was promoted to the rank of archbishop. On July 9, 2011, he was promoted to the rank of metropolitan.[1]

Metropolitan Symeon was the only one out of 83 members of the Council of UOC (MP) (November 13, 2018, Kiev Pechersk Lavra), who did not sign the resolution for breaking the communion between UOC (MP) and Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.[3]

On December 15, 2018, he participated in the Unity Council and the creation of a local autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine.[2] He was one of the candidates for the position of primate, but in the elections lost to the metropolitan of the former UOC-KP Epifaniy, taking second place according to the results of voting. He received 28 votes against 36 for Epifaniy,[4] that means he has a support inside UOC-KP and UAOC, because there were only 2 bishops from MP who participated in voting.

Together with the former primates of UOC-KP Filaret (Denysenko) and UAOC Macariy (Maletych) he became a lifelong member of the Holy Synod of the newly formed church.

After joining OCU in December he predicted slow but large-scale move of MP clergy to the newly formed church. He said about MP clergy position in case of joining OCU:

"Next, a few things will contribute to the formation of their position. The first and main condition is the Tomos, expected on January 6. The second condition is the law on the renaming of the UOC-MP (already adopted on December 19) and on the registration of the charters, so that each community has the right to decide on its own with whom to remain – with the Russian Church or the Ukrainian one. And the third condition is the recognition of the OCU by other Churches. Our priests are told directly: as soon as the OCU is recognized by other Churches; we can, perhaps, also join it. One way or another, you need to be prepared for a long process. This is like having a baby: it has already come into the world, but it still needs maternal care”.[5]

As of January 24, 2019, "more than 30" MP parishes joined the diocese of metropolitan Symeon of Vynnytsa and Bar, Ukraine in OCU.[6]

• Historic unification of Ukrainian Orthodox Church by Tadeusz A. Olszański // Center of Eastern Studies. December 17, 2018.
• In Vinnytsia Region Another 2 Parishes Had Joined OCU (in Ukrainian) // Religious Information Service of Ukraine. January 24, 2019.
• Metropolitan Symeon Biography (in Ukrainian) at official UOC-MP site. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
• Metropolitan Symeon Predicts Large-Scale Move of Clergy to OCU // Religious Information Service of Ukraine. December 24, 2018.
• Metropolitan Symeon was the only one who did not accept a resolution of the Council of UOC (MP) (in Russian) // LB.ua. November 13, 2018.