OCU spokesman accuses UOC-KP of working for Kremlin

Yevstratiy Zoria. Photo: Klimkin's YouTube channel

OCU spokesman Yevstratiy Zoria published a sharply critical post on social media in which he accused the UOC-KP of working for Moscow.

According to him, the new “patriarch” of the Kyiv Patriarchate, Nikodym Kobzar, is “a buffoon from Sumy” whose role is to prop up an anti-OCU organization which, in Zoria’s theory, serves as a “legendized center.”

The OCU spokesman stated that “the name ‘Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate’ is legally registered to the OCU,” and accused all members of the UOC-KP of aiding Russian propaganda.

Zoria did not explain why he had not previously accused Filaret Denysenko of working for the Kremlin. He named not Filaret, but one of the oldest “hierarchs” of the UOC-KP, Ioasaf Shibaev, as its “original source” and “godfather.” According to Zoria, Shibaev was “defrocked for schismatic anti-church activity” (the ROC defrocked Shibaev in 1997).

Zoria suggested that Shibayev is cooperating with the FSB, and that the proclamation of a new “patriarch” of the UOC-KP after Filaret’s death is an operation by Russian intelligence services. He also saw a Kremlin connection in the fact that Nikodym Kobzar had been a priest of the UOC before joining the UOC-KP.

Zoria concluded his post by calling on the FSB to “take back” the new “patriarch” of the Kyiv Patriarchate.

As previously reported, Zoria had earlier said that the OCU disagrees with Filaret’s claim that he does not consider himself its member.

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