Drabinko says which fifth Church recognized the OCU

Alexander Drabinko spoke about the fifth Church, which recognized the OCU. Photo: Facebook

Ex-Metropolitan of the UOC and "metropolitan" of the OCU Alexander Drabinko said in an interview with Ukrainian Radio that the OCU had been recognized by 5 Local Churches – however, he included the OCU itself in this list.

“The church has its rightful canonical place in the diptych, the 15th, it is now recognized by almost 30 percent of the Orthodox world, since 5 out of 15 Churches recognize the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (meaning the OCU –Ed.) as an autocephalous and canonical equal sister in the family Local Orthodox Churches," Drabinko said, specifying a little later, "Well, including the Orthodox Church of Ukraine."

It's noteworthy that only the Russian and Romanian Churches, which do not recognize the OCU, make up to 70 percent of Orthodox believers. In addition to them, the OCU is not recognized by another 9 Local Churches.

Regarding the other Local Churches, which never recognized the OCU, Drabinko believes that the matter is about "economic reasons" and "diplomatic flaws".

“The Romanian Church pointed out at once that it had no canonical or theological reasons not to recognize it (the OCU – Ed.). Why it has not yet proclaimed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (meaning the OCU – Ed.) as autocephalous in its diptychs – I don’t know. Perhaps these are some diplomatic flaws, perhaps there are some other reasons – I cannot say. Well, also the Jerusalem Church ... there are some economic reasons, because the repair works of the Edicule were bankrolled by the funds that came from the Russian Orthodox Church,” Drabinko said.

The UOJ wrote how Drabinko and Catholics presented the Mazepa Gospel in Lebanon.

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