Dumenko discusses international activities of OCU with British Ambassador

Martin Harrison and Dumenko. Photo: pomisna.info

On November 21, 2023, the head of the OCU Epifaniy Dumenko discussed with the British Ambassador to Ukraine Martin Harrison the international activities of his structure, according to the website of Dumenkovites.

The press service of the OCU writes that "during the meeting, the parties discussed the process of the establishment of the Local Ukrainian Orthodox Church."

In addition, Dumenko talked with the British Ambassador about the interfaith situation, state-church relations, external church connections, and the international activities of the OCU.

It is worth noting that according to the provisions of the Tomos, actively promoted by the OCU as a document of its "independence" and "autocephaly," the jurisdiction of the OCU is limited to the territory of Ukraine, and the new church structure is no longer allowed to consecrate bishops or establish parishes outside the state "without being henceforth entitled to establish bishops or found extraterritorial altars in regions already lawfully dependent on the Ecumenical Throne, which bears canonical competence over the Diaspora," the text of the Tomos says.

It also specifies that all the terms listed (including the provision on the subordination of foreign parishes of the Kyiv Patriarchate to the Phanar) are a necessary condition for the granting of the Tomos as such: "on the basis of all the above and on the basis of these conditions, our Holy Great Church of Christ blesses and declares the Orthodox Church in Ukraine as Autocephalous."

Earlier, the honorary patriarch of the OCU Filaret stated that there is a tendency to become dependent on Constantinople: "The tendency is that we can become dependent on Constantinople. Therefore, it depends on us whether we will submit to them or not."

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