Expert: Epiphany shows himself to be a weak manager and can be dismissed

Head of the OCU Epiphany Dumenko. Photo: Ukraina.ru

Recent events show that the “primate” of the new church structure Epiphany Dumenko is neither able to organize nor support an artificially created political project called “OCU”, explained the political expert, Ph.D. in Political Science Kirill Molchanov.

“It is entirely possible that Epiphany will lose the post of head of the OCU since he has shown himself to be a weak manager. He lost help from business and philanthropists who remained focused on the head of the UOC-KP Filaret. This also includes the inability of Epiphanius to succeed in external areas. The OCU has failed to receive recognition from any Local Church, except for Constantinople,” the “Golos.ua" media group cites the words of the politoligist.

According to the political scientist, the last straw on this issue was the celebration of the 1031st anniversary of the Christianization of Rus’. The ex-President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko provided comprehensive financial and administrative support for the OCU, however, Epiphany failed to gather a numerous cross procession that day, Molchanov recalled.

“Epiphany is not able to organize and support an artificial political project called the OCU. It was created by Poroshenko as a way to score points and increase ratings before the election,” the expert emphasized.

He drew the attention of journalists to the fact that without the power and administrative support of the authorities, the “transfers” of the communities to a new religious organization also ceased.

“The development of the OCU project has become a dead weight,” the expert concluded.

Earlier media reported that Epiphany Dumenko could be replaced in the OCU for Mikhail Zinkevich. According to journalists, the head of the new church structure may lose the support of his main sponsors, who would put forward in his place Mikhail Zinkevich. The media reported that the Dnipro businessman Alexander Petrovsky and the Lviv brewer Andrei Matsola became furious after the money they donated for the “cross procession” of the OCU did not pay off – the number of supporters of the newly created religious structure was 15 times less than that of supporters of the UOC. “Petrovsky and Matsola began to demand explanations from Mikhail (Zinkevich – Ed.), stating that it was actually possible to organize 30 thousand people or even more, with the allocated money. But Mikhail replied that he had given all the money to Epiphany, so he is responsible for that,” the media reported.

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