On the action of the Holy Spirit in ordinations

Ordination. Photo: UOC's Press Service

The parishioner directly asked Tomenko to explain where, exactly, the OCU – tracing its origins to the schismatic UOC-KP under Filaret – got its canonical ordinations of bishops and priests.

To lay the groundwork, she first clarified whether he agreed that the UOC-KP had indeed been in schism. Tomenko admitted it had been. He also confirmed that Patriarch Bartholomew had never recognized it as a Church.

So she pressed further: “After the Tomos was granted, were any new ordinations performed over the former UOC-KP/OCU bishops?”

“No,” he replied.

“Well then,” she asked, “where did the OCU suddenly get canonical ordinations for its clergy? That’s a major problem. I simply can’t understand how bishops and priests in the OCU supposedly received the grace of the Holy Spirit – when they were never ordained within a canonical Church.”

Tomenko had no answer.

And these aren’t just questions being asked by UOC faithful. Back in 2019, nearly every Local Orthodox Church posed the very same challenge to Patriarch Bartholomew.

The late Archbishop Anastasios of Albania put it pointedly:

“We are left wondering: how could the ordinations performed by Mr. Filaret – while he was under deposition and anathema –retroactively gain validity through the Holy Spirit and carry the true seal of apostolic succession? […] How can something null and void suddenly become grace-filled 'by oikonomia'? How can acts that amounted to open blasphemy against the Holy Spirit […] be retroactively justified ‘by oikonomia’?”

The question of whether clergy possess valid, grace-filled, apostolic ordination is not some minor technicality – it strikes at the very heart of the Church’s life. Without it, everything that happens in church becomes nothing more than beautiful ceremony – devoid of sacred power.

The OCU may try to brush these concerns aside as nitpicking.

But then why do we so often see lies, violence, looting, and desecration coming from their side?

We may not fully embrace the mystery of how the grace of the Holy Spirit operates in ordination – but one thing is clear: it certainly doesn’t look like this.

Read also