Romanian Church responds to Ukraine's call to recognize OCU

The Conference Hall of the Romanian Patriarchate. Photo: Basilica

The Romanian Patriarchate responded to the call of Ukrainian Ambassador Ihor Prokopchuk to recognize the OCU, which he voiced shortly after Dumenko's structure attempted to seize the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Chernivtsi. The Romanian Church explained its position in the Romanian publication Stiripesurse.

As the publication writes, "The Romanian Patriarchate emphasized the hostile attitude of the Ukrainian state towards the Romanian believers in Ukraine , by failing to respect the rights regarding the practice of faith, in total contradiction with the attitude of the Romanian state towards the Ukrainian parishioners in Romania."

The Patriarchate stressed that regarding the church situation in Ukraine, the point of view of the Romanian Orthodox Church remains that formulated by the Holy Synod in its working session held on February 21, 2019, namely: "For almost 30 years, the problem of the schism in Ukraine has not been resolved, nor has there been an appeal for pan-Orthodox mediation, as was done in the case of the schism in Bulgaria."

The Patriarchate also highlighted that the Synod's decision included a call for convening a pan-Orthodox council if the establishment of the OCU does not resolve the Ukrainian issue.

The Romanian Church emphasized: "Following consultations with Romanian Orthodox clergy and laity in Ukraine, the majority of them firmly reject, even with fear, their possible transfer to the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine."

The Romanian Orthodox Church notes that recognizing the OCU "will automatically lead to increased pressure (on Romanian believers of the UOC. – Ed.) from the Ukrainian authorities to force them to come under the jurisdiction of Metropolitan Epifaniy."

The Patriarchate also criticized the Ukrainian authorities for refusing to register the religious association (administration) of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

Moreover, the promises of the Ukrainian authorities to guarantee the celebration of services in Romanian seem to lack credibility, especially in the context in which the same authorities boast of the celebration of the first service in Ukrainian in a church in Chernivtsi that was taken over abusively, on the frontispiece of which is written in Romanian, in Cyrillic characters: "One in three hypostases - God". This situation raises serious questions about the sincerity and good faith of their actions", the Romanian Orthodox Church also explained.

According to UOJ, in the coming days, a meeting of the Synod of the Romanian Church will take place, where tough decisions regarding the OCU are expected.

Recall, in 2019, the Romanian Church asked Patriarch Bartholomew to clarify the issue of non-canonical hierarchs and priests who belonged to the Kyiv Patriarchate.

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