DESS expert: OCU lacks monks, and they understand this

Members of the newly established Commission for Monastic Affairs of the OCU. May 5, 2025. Photo: archangel.kiev.ua

The OCU has problems with monasticism; therefore, they created a new commission and gathered the abbots of monasteries, said Andriy Smirnov, an external expert of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) and a member of the OCU Synodal Commission, during an interview on the VICHE YouTube channel.

Commenting on the situation with the Pochaiv Lavra, the DESS expert acknowledged that Dumenko's structure does not have a sufficient number of monastics to settle in such a large monastery in the event of its seizure.

“The other issue is where to find monks. It's also true that there are not enough monks, and the OCU understands this,” he said, referring to the current impossibility of taking the Pochaiv shrine from the UOC brethren and faithful.

According to him, the OCU has finally realized that it has problems with monasticism, and a few days ago, they created a Commission for Monastic Affairs.

“Recently, significant changes have taken place. A new head of the Synodal Commission for Monastic Affairs was appointed – Archbishop Agapit, the abbot of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery. For the first time, he gathered the abbots of monasteries and wrote a program, understanding that there are problems. The level of education needs to be raised. Contacts with Mount Athos and other Local Churches need to be developed, and so on,” Smirnov added.

As the UOJ previously reported, seven years after its establishment, the OCU held the first meeting of its Monastery Commission.

Earlier, the UOJ analyzed why there are almost no monks in the state-favored OCU, while the persecuted UOC continues to see their numbers grow.

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