DESS: OCU values the possibility to pray with Catholics and Protestants
The State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience published a statement in response to the "synod" of the OCU. The DESS praised Dumenko's organization for giving Ukraine "a full voice in Ecumenical Orthodoxy." The document also emphasized that “not only many Orthodox believers in Ukraine, but also many secular people were rooting for the formation of the OCU.”
“It is important to have divine services in Ukrainian, not in Church Slavonic <…> It is important to be able to pray together with Greek Catholics, Roman Catholics and Protestants. The openness of Ukrainian Orthodoxy within itself and towards the broader Christian world is what can make Ukrainian Orthodoxy a particularly important voice both in the diversity of Ukraine and in the harmony of the cultures of the world. So the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is called upon to embody such aspirations of believers,” the State Ethnopolitics said.
As the UOJ reported, the "archbishop" was concelebrated by a Catholic priest in the Ternopil diocese of the OCU.
Read also
DESS: The number of communities joining OCU in 2024 is half of last year’s
Over a year, 232 communities of the UOC changed their jurisdiction.
Scale of internal damage to UOC cathedral in Zaporizhzhia shown online
The video allows viewers to assess the damage endured by the main Orthodox church of the UOC in Zaporizhzhia.
Ex-MP UOC protodeacon Novinsky declared suspicion of high treason
The former MP is accused of "ensuring that a significant part of Ukrainian society, who are believers of the UOC, remain under the direct influence of the leader of the ROC".
St Andrew’s icon survives under the rubble of UOC cathedral in Zaporizhzhia
The icon was painted by nuns of the St Nicholas Monastery in Patras (Greece) and consecrated on the relics of St Andrew the Apostle.
RF missile strike destroys St Andrew's Cathedral of UOC in Zaporizhzhia
The fragments damaged the roof of the building, dome, ceilings, cut windows and disfigured classrooms.
Media shows conditions in which persecuted communities of Volyn have to pray
After their churches were seized, UOC faithful are compelled to pray in poorly equipped facilities.