OCU: Those ordained by Filaret after the Tomos are not bishops

The OCU considers Filaret’s ordinations invalid. Photo: OCU

On April 1, 2026, the official website of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine published a statement addressing the activities of the UOC-KP. It asserts that “no separate religious association exists apart from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine under the name ‘Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate.’”

The OCU stated that members of the UOC-KP “constitute a self-appointed assembly and are subject to ecclesiastical condemnation.” Commenting on the figure of the new “patriarch” of the UOC-KP, Nikodim Kobzar, the OCU said that he “is not even a bishop; for his role in deepening schism in church life, he was long ago suspended from ministry and, for further violations, is subject to ecclesiastical trial.”

The statement further says that current UOC-KP “hierarchs” Ioasaf Shibaev and Filaret Panku “were defrocked by the conciliar court of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and are now simple monks.” It also stresses that all “hierarchs” of the UOC-KP ordained by Filaret after December 15, 2018, are not and will not be recognized by the OCU as bishops.

“Accordingly, none of those attempting to act on behalf of the UOC-KP are, from a canonical standpoint, bishops, and some are not even clergy,” the OCU emphasized.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that, according to a “hierarch” of the UOC-KP, the OCU had taken Filaret’s body and seized St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral and the patriarchate.

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