Even those who do not know the Creed ordained in OCU, Dumenko's ex-cleric

Yaroslav Yasynets. Photo: Facebook Yasynets

Former cleric of the Kyiv Eparchy of the OCU Yaroslav Yasenets, in his detailed statement about leaving Dumenko's church structure, revealed problems with education and training of the "clergy".

According to him, the OCU ordains people who do not even have basic theological knowledge.

Yaroslav Yasenets provides a shocking example from his own experience: "I personally witnessed how a newly ordained priest in the Sumy Eparchy did not know the Creed. He was ordained, as he himself said, just to be made a chaplain at the request of one of the military units."

"Very often, people without any theological education, who only yesterday worked in secular jobs, become OCU priests. If they themselves have not accepted the sacred tradition of the church in their hearts, how can they convey it to others?" asks the former OCU cleric.

Yasenets points not only to the low educational level of candidates for priesthood but also to moral issues:

"There are many examples when not only ignorant but also immoral people, bigamists, or deliberate fornicators are allowed to be ordained. Much is known about widespread alcoholism and other harmful habits among clerics."

The former OCU cleric draws attention to the critical situation with providing parishes with priests. With more than 8000 parishes, the OCU has about 4000 clerics serving.

"One priest now may be torn between three or even five parishes, in none of which he can thus perform a full-fledged service," explains Yasenets.

According to him, OCU seminaries do not provide enough personnel, and the quality of training remains extremely low. Yasenets sharply criticizes the system of spiritual education in the OCU, calling the seminaries "spiritual vocational schools".

Earlier, the UOJ reported that a well-known OCU cleric left the structure due to disagreement with Dumenko's course.

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