Another overseas parish of UOC KP bows out of Phanar’s jurisdiction

“Cleric” of the OCU Volodymyr Chayka and “Primate” of the new church structure Epiphany Dumenko

The German deanery of the UOC KP in the city of Cologne decided to reject the transition to the jurisdiction of the Constantinople Patriarchate, said Volodymyr Chayka, the OCU “priest”, on Facebook.

"Good news. At our parish meeting held on February 17, we also voted for the affiliation with Kiev,” wrote Chaika commenting on the decision of the UOC KP parish in Bridgeport (USA) to remain within the UOC KP/OCU.

Later he also reported on Facebook about his meeting with Epiphany Dumrnko, the head of the OCU, whom he told about the willing of his parish “in relation to the jurisdictional affiliation”.

At the same time, head of the OCU Epiphany Dumenko said that the process of transferring foreign parishes to the UOC KP to Phanar is already underway. “It just may not be officially announced. We are negotiating that. It is impossible to do it at once. But now, for example, in Europe there are a lot of parishes that have expressed thier desire to be subordiante to the Ecumenical Patriarchate,” Epiphany said.

Recall, according to the provisions of the Tomos, being hyped by the adherents of the new religious organization as a document on “independence” and “autonomy” of the new Ukrainian “church”, the jurisdiction of the OCU is limited to the territory of Ukraine, whiles the new church structure no longer enjoys the right to ordain bishops or found parishes outside the state. "The already existing [parishes – Ed.] from now on are subordinate, according to the new order, to the Universal Throne, which has canonical powers in the Diaspora,” reads the text of the Tomos. It also states that all of the above terms (including the provision on re-subordination of foreign parishes of the Kiev Patriarchate to Phanar) are a necessary condition for the granting of Tomos as such: “On all these conditions, our Holy Great Church of Christ blesses and proclaims Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Ukraine.”

Earlier, Filaret said that there is a tendency to become dependent on Constantinople but his Church is ready to fight: “The tendency is that we can become dependent on Constantinople. Therefore, it depends on us whether we will obey them or not.”

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