Expertise finds no incitement by Epifaniy against Metropolitan Theodosiy

Dumenko and Metropolitan Theodosiy. Photo: UOJ

A Kyiv expert has issued a conclusion on the lawsuit for the protection of honor and dignity of the Cherkasy hierarch following boorish statements by the head of the OCU. The Telegram channel "Dozor" noted the bias and double standards of the judicial system in religious matters.

Specialist Vadym Zhuravel studied the speech of Epifaniy Dumenko, which he delivered in an interview with the "1+1" television channel. In that conversation, the head of the OCU accused Metropolitan Theodosiy of "openly preaching hostile ideology" and working in the interests of the Russian Federation. The linguist concluded that these statements represent only the "personal vision" of the speaker and a subjective assessment of the developments.

Zhuravel indicated that Epifaniy's words "do not have signs of unreliability" since they are evaluative by nature. According to the linguist, the construction about Russia's involvement of the bishop "does not contain a direct grammatical or lexical indication" of conscious cooperation with another state. The expert also did not see any hidden subtext or double meaning in the OCU leader's speech.

In the criminal case against Metropolitan Theodosiy himself, experts took the opposite position, accusing the hierarch of violating the Criminal Code of Ukraine while delivering a sermon in support of the nuns of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos Convent. Then the hierarch's words in defense of the monastery sisters were classified as "inciting hatred," although the hierarch used much softer wordin

Metropolitan Theodosiy filed a lawsuit against Epifaniy in the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv. The reason was the slanderous statements by the head of the OCU that appeared on the internet in August 2025.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the court in the Metropolitan Theodosiy case fined a psycholinguistic expert.

Read also