Why Dumenko’s claims about the late primate are a revolting lie

Dumenko is spreading blatant falsehoods, alleging that Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) supported unification with schismatics. Photo: UOJ

Speaking from the ambo of Drabynko’s Transfiguration Cathedral in Kyiv, the head of the OCU, Serhii Dumenko, delivered yet another portion of falsehoods about the late Primate of the UOC, Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan).

According to Dumenko, the Metropolitan had supposedly blessed the very process of unifying the UOC with members of the UOC-KP and UAOC.

“And although the departed Metropolitan Volodymyr did not live to see the moment when the dialogue he initiated bore its good fruits, he nurtured and taught those who, in due time, faithfully fulfilled their calling,” Dumenko declared. Before that, he claimed that “the church division, which for decades remained like a bleeding wound, found its healing at the Unification Council.”

But did the late Metropolitan truly believe that “healing a bleeding wound” meant simply showing up at a “unification council” together with those who had no canonical ordination and merging into one structure?

Here is what he himself wrote about such a prospect:

“What kind of unification can we even speak of? It is impossible to obtain one homogeneous substance from water and oil. […] From the perspective of global Orthodoxy, the so-called UOC-KP (now the OCU – Ed.) is neither a Local Church nor canonical, nor even a Church at all.”

This does not mean that the late Primate rejected all contact with such individuals. But he spelled out with absolute clarity the only procedure for the very “healing” that Dumenko now invokes: “Unification of Churches can occur only through the repentance of the schismatics, their return to the bosom of the Mother Church, and thereafter a joint discussion of the proper canonical status of a united Ukrainian Church.”

Moreover, as far back as 2008, Metropolitan Volodymyr foresaw the disastrous outcome of the so-called “Unification Council,” which would be held ten years later. In a letter to Patriarch Bartholomew, the then UOC Primate warned:

“Recently, Ukrainian media have discussed a scenario for resolving the Ukrainian church question by creating several parallel Orthodox jurisdictions in Ukraine. We responsibly state that such an approach is unacceptable, because:

• it contradicts the canonical principle ‘one city – one bishop’;
• it will intensify negative tendencies leading to further polarization of Ukrainian society;
• it may result in renewed harsh confrontations over churches and church property;
• it will weaken the missionary potential of Orthodoxy in Ukraine against the backdrop of new religious movements and Uniatism;
• and finally, it will not resolve the problem of overcoming the schism, because uncanonical groups claiming autocephaly will remain in Ukraine.”

His position is crystal clear.
And one can say without hesitation: had Metropolitan Volodymyr been alive in 2018, he would not have set foot in that hall.
And Dumenko knows this perfectly well.

We have all, regrettably, become used to the constant stream of deception from the OCU leadership.
But lying about the dead is something else entirely.
It is especially repugnant – because the deceased cannot speak back.

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