UOC spokesperson: OCU realized that there will be no more "transfers"

Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich. Photo: UOJ

The Deputy Head of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC, Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, said in the programme "The Right to Faith" on the "1Kozak" Youtube channel that the OCU realized that there would be no more "transfers", the OCU topic is gradually losing its relevance.

“In the Orthodox world, there is an understanding of these events (of the Ukrainian schism - Ed.), and even those bishops of the Local Churches who zealously advocated for the recognition of the OCU have cooled off. It’s time for a calm, sober assessment and decisions. The events that we saw in 2018-19 were not ecclesiastical but political, it was a lot of hype. Now, this topic has lost, thank God, its relevance in our society. The OCU also realized that there would be no more "transfers", I am giving you insider information. There (in the OCU – Ed.) there is also a certain disappointment and a feeling that the expectations have not been fulfilled and the prospects set have not been realized,” said Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich.

According to the spokesperson for the UOC, in some Local Churches that have recognized the OCU, after the change of their Primates, it is possible to reconsider decisions in favour of the UOC.

“This whole story shows that you can do whatever you want hurriedly, but then these things have to be sorted out. The steps must be done correctly, with the consent of everyone, not with the help of a conflict, because this does not bring a positive result for the Church, the priest added.

As previously reported, Metropolitan Athanasius of Limassol said that his non-recognition of the OCU is a matter of conscience and the canons of the Church.

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