Vicariate of UOC-KP in USA and Canada: OCU has no rights to our parishes

The OCU is restricted by the letter of the Tomos issued by Phanar and not entitiled to foreign parishes, the UOC-KP reminded. Photo: wikipedia

The OCU is restricted by to the letter the Tomos, which clearly states that "the jurisdiction of this Church is confined to the territory of the State of Ukraine.” “Archpriest” Bogdan Zgoba, a new secretary of the UOC-KP vicariate in the United States and Canada, reminded of this in his address posted on the UOC-KP's FB page in response to a statement by the former secretary, "archpriest" Victor Poliarny, about subordinating foreign parishes to OCU head Sergei (Epiphany) Dumenko.

Noting that we now have to live in difficult times, "protecting the Orthodox faith and the holy canons of the Church from being trampled by ungodly forces that want to divide us into small factions and exterminate us in singles," the new secretary of the vicariate of the "True Local Ukrainian Orthodox Church", who was appointed by Filaret, stressed that the Tomos on autocephaly of the OCU assigned "more than 20 million Ukrainian community across the continents" to the jurisdiction of Phanar, "which is neither native nor desirable for us."

"Hence Archpriest Victor Poliarny, who states that he is under the direct authority of the Primate of the OCU, Metropolitan Epiphany of Kyiv, is grossly mistaken. Nobody is waiting for him there. The OCU is restricted by the letter of the Tomos and does not have the nerve to raise the issue of the Ukrainian Diaspora before Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew,” Zgoba wrote and called on Poliarny to “repent” before Filaret.

In addition, he stressed, the Ukrainian Diaspora in the United States are citizens of this country and "must confidently reject the destructive influences from outside our state, which have already shaken the heads of the most experienced of us, bringing misunderstandings and crises to our peaceful environment."

We will remind, on February 3, "archpriest" Victor Poliarny declared subordination of foreign parishes of UOC-KP to the head of OCU Epiphany Dumenko. The day before the statement, Filaret removed Poliarny from the post of secretary of the "vicariate" of the UOC-KP in the United States and Canada.

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