Epiphany: Lavras can move to OCU during the year

Head of the OCU Epiphany Dumenko

The brethren and the lavras themselves have no other way but to unite with the OCU, the "primate" of the new church organization said in an interview with the magazine "New Time".

“Lavras are the spiritual and cultural heritage of the Ukrainian people. And I believe that the Lord will create such conditions that the lavras will transfer to the Local Ukrainian Church. I think that this will happen in the coming years, perhaps even a year,” he said.

He would like "Lavra monks to come to the realization that there is no other way but unification in order to make our modern history together".

Epiphany also said that the creation of the OCU took place behind the scenes, and he does not even know all the details. According to him, the process “was complex, external forces interfered in our internal affairs. Everything was done on the sidelines. I don’t even know particular details, but it was clear that Russia was trying (and now will be trying) to destroy from the inside what we managed to unite.”

As the UOJ reported, earlier President Petro Poroshenko explained that the first actions after the creation of the OCU would not be “storming the lavras”, since “all is in due time”.

Earlier, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko promised to sign bill No. 4128-d passed by Rada, known as the law on church raiding. As the UOJ reported, “honorary patriarch” Filaret again claimed that the lavras would belong to the Ukrainian Church, because “God will create the conditions”.

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