One of spokespersons for OCU assures that he is mentally healthy

Roman Hryshchuk with a bill of health from a psychiatric hospital. Photo: Hryshchuk's Facebook

One of the most media-active "priests" of the OCU, Roman Hryshchuk, who has been actively involved in the seizure of UOC churches in Bukovyna, stated on his Facebook page that he is mentally healthy.

He filmed himself against the backdrop of the Chernivtsi psychiatric hospital and displayed a bill of his mental health.

The reason for this action, according to Hryshchuk, was a publication by MP Artem Dmytruk, who posted a photocopy of certificate No. 288 from the outpatient department of the Chernivtsi psychiatric hospital on his Telegram channel, claiming that Hryshchuk had an affective delusional disorder (F 20.0) and required supervision and control.

Now, Hryshchuk complained that his detractors are advising him to "take pills". As a rebuttal, Hryshchuk showed another medical certificate, stating that he had not sought psychiatric help at the hospital for the past five years.

Hryshchuk announced that he had filed a police report against Dmytruk. He also promised to hold the Bancheny Monastery accountable for sharing Dmytruk's publication on its Facebook page. According to Hryshchuk, he is being deliberately discredited because his spiritual authority in Bukovyna is "inaccessible" to the priests of the UOC.

He also compared himself to St Amphilochius of Pochaiv and academician Andrei Sakharov, both of whom were forcibly placed in psychiatric institutions by the Soviet government. Hryshchuk did not explain why he made such a comparison, despite not having been to a psychiatric hospital.

As the UOJ wrote, according to Hryshchuk, Christ "used obscene language".

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