Epiphany: After the election campaign ends, transitions to OCU will resume

Epiphany Dumenko. Photo: Hromadske

Over the six months since the formation of the OCU, more than 500 parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have joined the new church and the process will go on. This was said by the “head of the OCU” Epiphany at a briefing on July 28, 2019, at the end of the “Ukrainian cross procession”, Radio Svoboda reports.

“All in all, for more than 6 months, over 500 parishes from the Moscow Patriarchate have joined the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Now we can see that the process has stalled a bit but is still dynamic. Several parishes legally registered their statutes with the OCU but I believe that with the end of the entire epic election campaign, people will calm down and continue to make decisions collectively, at meetings, by the majority vote, on joining our recognized Orthodox Church of Ukraine," said Epiphany.

He also noted that in the matter of honoring St. Prince Vladimir the Great and celebrating the Baptism of Rus, he “does not feel any competition” with the Russian Orthodox Church.

“The one who knows the real, objective Ukrainian history perfectly understands where it emanates from. We remember the Baptism of Rus-Ukraine, which took place here, on these hills, in the waters of the Dnieper, near Pochaina. Therefore, to say that Prince Vladimir the Great baptized all Russian lands in general is not true and it is very painful for the Russian Orthodox Church and in general, for the Russian state. Because if we cut off these roots, they will have to begin their history either from the 14th or from the 15th century which, of course, will be very painful to them. But we know and will continue to study our true Ukrainian history bearing in mind that our Christianity was born here,” added the “primate” of the OCU.

Recall, on July 28, 2019, the OCU celebrated the 1031th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus with a “liturgy” and a procession, which was called the “Ukrainian cross procession”. The number of Epiphany-led procession was estimated at 20,000 by the head of the OCU; 15,000 participants were counted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to visual estimates of the UOJ, there were about three or four thousand supporters of the OCU.

As the UOJ reported, on July 27, the Great Cross Procession of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church took place in Kiev, in which nearly 300,000 pilgrims took part.

The UOJ also conducted an online broadcast of the Great Cross Procession-2019.

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