Polish Church officially calls OCU "hierarchy" the laity

On August 23, 2022, the Polish Church issued an official statement in which it again refused to recognize the validity of episcopal and priestly ordinations in the OCU. This was reported by orthodox.pl.

The document notes that the structure of Dumenko does not meet the conditions of canonicity, and there should be one autocephalous Church in Ukraine. The Polish Church also stated that autocephaly should be granted to the entire Church in Ukraine, rather than to a “group of apostates.”

“The legality of priestly and episcopal consecrations, including of the so-called ‘Head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine,’ performed in 1992-2018 by the former Metropolitan Filaret (Denisenko) of Kyiv and All Ukraine, remains a fundamental doubt. By the decision of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1992, the former Metropolitan Filaret was deprived of hierarchal and priestly ordination as an apostate from monastic vows. In 1997, as a result of his actions that violate canonical norms, he was returned to the status of a layman. The above decisions were approved by all Local Orthodox Churches. A defrocked person cannot and does not have the right to ordain others,” the statement says.

According to the document, the canonical position of the OCU has unfavorable dogmatic consequences.

“The sacraments performed by the laity cannot be considered valid! The protracted informal status of the OCU causes anxiety and misunderstanding among believers, as well as in the entire Orthodox Church. Given the foregoing, the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church has repeatedly called and continues to call to convene a meeting of the heads of the Local Orthodox Churches in the spirit of love, humility and understanding,” the statement released by the Metropolia of Warsaw notes.

The document also notes that the Orthodox Church in Poland from the first days of the war has been providing shelter and pastoral care to the citizens of Ukraine regardless of their religious affiliation.

As the UOJ reported, Epifaniy Dumenko sent a letter to the Primate of the Polish Church, in which he noted that the hierarchs and clergy of the Polish Church do not want to concelebrate with members of the OCU and even refuse them the Holy Communion.

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