Dumenko: UOC parasitises on lavras

The head of the OCU, Serhiy Dumenko. Photo: a screenshot of the OCU's YouTube channel

The head of the OCU Serhiy (Epifaniy) Dumenko said in an interview with Gazeta.ua that the UOC priesthood and believers who pray at the Kyiv-Pechersk and Pochaiv Lavra are parasites, whose expulsion depends only on the will of the authorities.

When asked by a journalist "on what the return to Ukraine" of the Pochaiv and Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra depends, Dumenko said that "these shrines already belong to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people".

"However, they continue to be used by those who do not really love this nation. For they do not truly love our language and culture, do not know and do not want to know our true history and in unison with the Kremlin do not recognize our right to state and church independence. When and how these people will stop parasitising on our shrines depends on the Ukrainian authorities and their determination in this really important for the state issue," Dumenko said.

As reported, Dumenko "does not see any sense" in uniting with the UOC because there are "collaborators who hate everything Ukrainian".

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