Why Dumenko called for Patriarch Kirill to be put on trial

Epifaniy Dumenko. Photo: OCU

On May 24, the OCU’s so-called “Council of Bishops” called on the Phanar and other Churches to depose the primate of the ROC for promoting the “Russian World” and blessing the war in Ukraine. Why did it do this, and why now?

After receiving the Tomos in 2019, many Ukrainian patriots were outraged that Sergei Dumenko had begun commemorating Patriarch Kirill during “services.” Dumenko responded that commemorating the primates of the Churches was one of the requirements of the Tomos and that he did not want to violate its provisions.

But in the second month of the war with Russia, Dumenko stopped commemorating Patriarch Kirill, thereby violating the provisions of the Tomos. The reason is obvious – the inevitable anger of Ukrainian society, for which the ROC primate had become one of the enemy figures. The chief justification used by those seizing UOC churches at the time was “praying for Kirill.”

Thus, Dumenko managed to kill several birds with one stone:

•  he "legitimized" his violation of the Tomos norms;

•  he showed society that, unlike the UOC, he was “patriotic” enough not to commemorate the “enemy” patriarch;

•  he pleased the Phanar, which was effectively locked in a conflict with the ROC.

As the saying goes, nothing personal – just business.

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