Hold, I think I understand the situation better. There are two Ukrainian Orthodox Churches in Ukraine: one is under the Kiev Patriarchate and the other under the MP. Now I guess the problem is whether or not the KP is canonical. It claims it was granted autocephaly, but it's hard to find official documents.
UAOC is in communion with the KP whereas the other ones are in communion with the MP. Apparently the Communists tried to force the Ukrainians to be with the MP and under it, that's what wikipedia said.
Neither the UOC-KP or the UAOC are canonical churches. They are not recognized as such by any canonical autocephalous or automonous church in the world.
The UOC-Kp is headed by self proclaimed and defrocked former Bishop Filaret who was excommunicated by the ROC. he was a strong Russiphile until he lost the bid for the Moscow Patriarchate. He was married with children and supported by the KGB prior to the fall of communism. He bacame a Ukrainiphile only fter being defrocked.
The act of excommunication can be found at -
http://www.russian-orthodox-church.org.ru/sobor09e.htm#6ACT
ON EXCOMMUNICATION
of the monk Filaret Denisenko
1. The blessed Bishops' Council considered the antichurch activities of the monk Filaret Denisenko who was deprived of all priestly ranks by a Court order of the Bishops' Council on 11 June 1992 and who was warned by the Bishops' Council of 1994 that "should he continue to act uncanonically he will be excommunicated by anathema".
The blessed Bishops' Council now has to state with regret that the monk Filaret has not heeded the call addressed to him by the Mother Church to repent and in the period between Councils has continued his schismatic activities which he extended beyond the Russian Orthodox Church by facilitating the deepening of the schism in the fraternal Bulgarian Orthodox Church and by taking into communion schismatics from other Local Orthodox Churches; criminally ignoring the grounded banishment imposed by the lawful church authorities - his deposition - he has continued to perform sacrilegious "divine services", including blasphemous false consecrations without possessing the holy priesthood; the monk Filaret, to the temptation of many, has dared to call himself "patriarch of Kiev and Rus-Ukraine", while the ancient throne of Kiev is lawfully occupied by a canonical representative of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the rank of metropolitan; the monk Filaret has not ceased to blaspheme against the bishops, clergy and the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which is in canonical communion with the Russian Orthodox Church and through her with the universal Orthodox Church, continuing to harm Orthodoxy in Ukraine by his criminal actions.
In view of the aforesaid, the blessed Bishops' Council on the basis of Apostolic canon 28 which says : "If a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon, lawfully deposed for his apparent faults dares to perform services once entrusted to him, he will be completely cut off from the Church", and also on the basis of canon 14 of the Council of Sardica, canon 4 of the Council of Antioch, and rule 88 of St.Basil the Great, unanimously decided:
To excommunicate monk Filaret (Mikhail Antonovich Denisenko). Let him be anathema before all people.
2. The blessed Bishops' Council, in view of the lack of repentance on the part of the monks Iakov Panchuk and Andrey Gorak, who participate in the criminal schismatic activities of the former monk Filaret, once again calls them to repent and stop these blasphemous outrages and warns them that otherwise they will be excommunicated by anathema.
3. The blessed Bishops' Council, caring for those who have erred and have been drawn into schism by the former monk Filaret, reminds all who dare communicate with him in prayers that according to the sacred canons, they, in case they do not break this communion, are subject to excommunication. St.Basil the Great said in rule 88, warning Protopresbyter Gregory whom he suspended: "If you without correcting yourself dare to celebrate, you will be anathema before all people, and those who accept you will be excommunicated".
4. The blessed Bishops' Council informs the Primates of the Local Orthodox Church of the excommunication of the former monk Filaret (Mikhail Antonovich Denisenko) by anathema.
Orthodoc
