Mother Church’s direction: Epifaniy explains why he commemorates Pat. Kirill

OCU head Epifaniy Dumenko and Patriarch Bartholomew. Photo: open sources

OCU “primate” Epifaniy said that he commemorates Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus during services because this is required by the Tomos and the Mother Church. He made the remarks in an interview on Sonya Koshkina’s YouTube channel.

“Many people ask me, ‘Why do you commemorate Patriarch Kirill in the diptychs? You didn’t commemorate him after you were elected primate and before receiving the Tomos.’ Yes, I did not commemorate him because we are at war. At that time, as primate, I was free to make that decision. Before the Tomos, there were no legal provisions requiring me to commemorate Patriarch Kirill in the diptychs, so I did not,” the head of the independent Ukrainian church explained.

He continued: “Can you imagine if, on the very next day, while celebrating the service in Kyiv on the Nativity of Christ, January 7, I had violated a provision of the Tomos? I did not do that, even though many people asked me not to commemorate Patriarch Kirill in the diptychs.”

“Metropolitan” Epifaniy added that while he commemorates the ROC primate, he does “not pray” for him: “We do not pray for Patriarch Kirill. We are required to commemorate him as one of the primates of a Local Orthodox Church. Patriarch Bartholomew does this, and for us the Mother Church is our model.”

As the UOJ previously reported, not a single hierarch of the Local Churches other than those from the Patriarchate of Constantinople attended Epifaniy Dumenko’s enthronement at St. Sophia Cathedral on February 3. Roman Catholics, the head of the UGCC, and Protestants were also in attendance.

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