UOC-KP: OCU cannot be called the Ukrainian Church

Epiphany Dumenko. Photo: pomisna.info

On November 18, 2020, the Dean of the European Deanery of the UOC-KP, Vladimir Chayka, stated that the OCU cannot be called the Ukrainian Church. Chayka announced this during a press conference, organized by the Interfax-Ukraina publication.

According to Chayka, the OCU "is not and cannot be called a 'Ukrainian church' since Ukrainians around the world cannot identify themselves with it."

In his opinion, "the rejection of the Diaspora was an action that is aimed not at unification but at a significant weakening of Ukraine internationally."

Chayka is convinced that “the Church should interact with the state as a part of it but should not become its tool as it was in the Soviet times, and as, unfortunately, it happened with the OCU.”

“Therefore, we can qualify this organization (OCU – Ed.) only as an imitation of the Church, moreover, with a political bias, but not as a church of the Ukrainian people,” emphasized the dean of the European Dean's Office of the UOC-KP.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the European Deanery of the UOC-KP demanded to cancel the agreement between Ukraine and Phanar.

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