On the call of Epifaniy to His Beatitude Onuphry

Epifaniy Dumenko. Photo: Focus

This is particularly surprising because Dumenko held a very different position not long ago.

In May 2023, he stated that he "sees no point" in uniting with "collaborators who hate everything Ukrainian".

At that time, he also called the clergy and believers of the UOC "parasites", saying that their expulsion from their shrines depends solely on the "determination of the authorities".

Shortly thereafter, Dumenko stated that if he were to accept any of the "Russophile" bishops or priests, it would only be through repentance.

So, what has changed now? Nothing has changed. We dare to assume that Dumenko received a call from Bankova (the Presidential Administration) on the eve of the UOC ban and was told to portray himself as a "dove of peace".

It is worth noting that in the rather long text about "unity", there is not a single word about the conditions under which this should happen. Or rather, it is said that there should be no conditions from the UOC.

Let us remind you that the 2022 Council of the UOC put forward three theses as conditions for dialogue with the OCU:

– the cessation of the OCU's seizures of UOC churches,
– resolving the issue of the absence of canonical ordinations in the OCU,
– recognition that the status of the OCU is, in fact, "non-autocephalous".

As we know, 2.5 years after the Council, not a single condition has been met by Epifaniy. For example, the seizures have only multiplied significantly.

In the current document, Dumenko pompously declared that for him, refraining from seizures and fulfilling the other two points would be equivalent to renouncing God.

What does all this indicate?

There is no "unity" procedure, nor is one expected. Dumenko's statement is a "safeguard", an attempt by the authorities and the OCU to present themselves as "peacemakers" on the eve of the UOC ban so that the whole world sees – look, we wanted to do it "the right way".

And those who did not want to "unite" with the OCU voluntarily – well, they have only themselves to blame.

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