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
Was a UOC сhurch in Ivano-Frankivsk demolished for the sake of a park?
The authorities in Ivano-Frankivsk have decided to create a park on the vacant lot at 6 Chornovola Street. On the surface, the decision looks utterly routine. In reality, it says a great deal.
The devolution of Metropolitan Simeon
According to Shostatsky, “we know that where the majority is, there is the truth – not where the minority is.”
On how the OCU scorns its own rent-a-crowd
According to Zoria, the OCU looks down on staged crowds – for them, “what matters is truth, not the number” of parishioners. And yet, for every one of Epifaniy Dumenko’s traveling services, people are bused in by the coachload.
Persecution of UOC and liquidation of UGCC in 1946: Are there parallels?
After the defeat of Nazi Germany and the liberation of Western Ukraine, the leadership of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) initiated negotiations with Soviet authorities concerning the future of its ecclesiastical structure.
On the mobilization of a priest as a sniper
A man who has chosen the path of the priesthood has no right to join the army and take up a weapon. And the very idea of killing another human being is all the more absurd.
On statistics: how many Orthodox, Muslims and Jews we have
Trust in the Razumkov Center's research methods on the topic of Orthodoxy is minimal.