Head of UOC-KP: OCU has no right to enter into Eucharistic unity with UGCC

Epiphany Dumenko concelebrates with Catholic priest Vasily Plakhotka. Photo: pomisna.info

The OCU does not have the right to enter into the Eucharistic unity with the UGCC, said the Head of the Kiev Patriarchate, Filaret Denisenko, during the press conference “Revival of the Kiev Patriarchate”.

“The OCU does not have any right to enter into unity, the Eucharistic communion, with the Greek Catholic Church. If it does, it will become a Greek Catholic Church, subject to Rome. In addition, I think that the hierarchs, the clergy, and even more so the believers – no one wants to obey the Pope,” Filaret said.

The Head of the UOC-KP is convinced that any rapprochement between the new church structure and the Greek Catholics is impossible and called rumors about this as speculation.

“This is a speculation. There is no and cannot be any rapprochement between the OCU and the Greek Catholic (Church – Ed.). Why? Because the Greek Catholic Church is the Catholic Church, while the OCU is the Orthodox Church,” he said.

Filaret considers the loss of statehood by Ukraine to be the main reason for the emergence of the UGCC.

“I repeat once again that there will be no unification of the OCU with the Greek Catholic Church,” the Head of the Kiev Patriarchate concluded.

Recall that in November 2019 in Belgium, the Primate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Patriarch Bartholomew, who lobbies the interests of the OCU among the Local Orthodox Churches, prayed with the Catholics.

Later, the UOJ published a large analytical material by Yaroslav Nivkin “The OCU and the UGCC: 7 Steps to a New Union” about what is actually happening between the Greek Catholics and the new church structure.

After the release of this material, in January 2020, the ex-metropolitan of the UOC, and now the “hierarch” of the OCU, Alexander (Drabinko) presented the panagia of Metropolitan Vladimir (Sabodan) to the bishop of the UGCC on the occasion of the latter's episcopal consecration. “Today I also see the fullness of the Church – very good, great – the fullness that laid hands on you; and you, with us, will bear this burden. The burden of not glory, not honors but responsibility before God and before the people of God,” he addressed the UGCC hierarch.

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