Zoria explains why OCU churches stand empty

Festive “service” of the OCU for the Transfiguration in the Refectory Church of the Lavra. Photo: UOJ

OCU spokesperson Yevstratiy Zoria explained to Glavcom why churches “transferred” from the UOC end up “abandoned.”

According to Zoria, such situations occur only in combat zones. “When we’re talking about frontline areas, it’s pretty obvious there can be abandoned churches as well as schools, kindergartens, shops, and homes – because people are afraid to return there,” he said.

He also dismissed claims that these “transferred” churches stand empty because the OCU lacks priests. Zoria called such complaints “strange,” arguing that the OCU is “forced to simultaneously assign hundreds of chaplains to the military, while the training of clergy is a long process.”

However, Zoria’s words completely contradict the statistics provided by other OCU representatives. For example, the head of the “OCU Synodal Office for Military Chaplaincy,” Ioann Yaremenko, has stated that his department has only 80 chaplains serving in the military.

Given official statistics indicating that the OCU has over 4,500 “priests,” sending 80 chaplains to the Armed Forces cannot seriously explain the issue of empty OCU churches.

As a reminder, according to journalists, many chaplains in fact continue to serve in their own parishes rather than at the front.

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