Dumenko at OCU “council” talks about monasteries but hides number of monks
By joining the OCU, Lotysh 'sharply increased' the number of OCU monks. Photo: UOJ
OCU head Epifaniy Dumenko, in a report at the “bishops’ council,” presented statistics about his organization. According to him, the OCU has over 9,000 parishes, and in the past year 250 UOC communities “rejected the non-canonical authority of the Moscow Patriarchate and joined the family of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”
Dumenko also stated that the OCU has more than 90 male and female monasteries. However, he did not mention the number of monks in his organization. The last official data on this comes from DESS statistics for 2021, when the OCU had 233 monks.
As a reminder, in 2022, DESS head Olena Bohdan said that the OCU’s monasteries in Kyiv included about 50 people. If that number has not changed significantly in either direction over the years, one might estimate that on average, Dumenko’s monasteries outside the capital have around two people each.
Previously, Serhiy Dumenko reacted harshly to Olena Bohdan’s remark that the entire OCU has fewer monks than the UOC has in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. According to him, it is not DESS’s place to comment on such statistics.
Read also
Security officers beat and abduct UOC cathedral's altar server
The Volodymyr–Volynskyi Eparchy reported an attack on a church worker near his home.
After his appointment, Ostapenko promises to fight “Russian World” in Lavra
According to the new–old director of the Lavra Reserve, together with the OCU he has “returned the Ukrainian voice to the Lavra.”
OCU cleric on community “transfers” from UOC: We will need another 45 years
The statement by a Bukovynian “priest” of the OCU came amid acknowledgments of the low pace of re-registering UOC parishes into the OCU.
Ministry of Culture reinstates Ostapenko as director of Lavra reserve
Kotliarevska was dismissed from the post of director of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve.
Serbian Church transfers relics of Jasenovac new martyrs to Croatia
The transfer of the shrine carries special significance for Orthodox believers in Croatia and is connected with the remembrance of the victims of the Jasenovac persecutions.
Archbishop of Albania supports country's accession to European Union
The Primate of the Albanian Church believes that Albania's accession to the European Union will benefit not only the country and its citizens but also Europe itself.