OCU сleric: Unity with UGCC awaits Rome–Constantinople agreement

Andriy Dudchenko. Photo: screenshot from YouTube channel "Orthodox Easterners"

Andriy Dudchenko, associate professor at the Kyiv Theological Academy of the OCU, said on the Orthodox Easterners YouTube channel that claims about a planned union between the OCU and the UGCC are nothing more than a “scare tactic.” Yet in the same conversation, Dudchenko effectively described precisely such a scenario of unification.

Responding to the host’s question about why the UOC warns of the possibility of a “new union” between the OCU and the UGCC, Archpriest Dudchenko dismissed it as a tool of intimidation.

“This is one of the scare tactics they use to keep their believers and priests from joining the OCU. They say: if you join, this is already a step toward union; then you will become Greek Catholics, then Catholics – and lose salvation altogether,” he said.

Yet immediately afterward, the OCU cleric explained in detail under what conditions unity between the OCU and the UGCC would still be possible – and did not hide what it would look like.

“What is the sign of unity? That we can freely concelebrate, receive Communion, and that believers can freely attend the parishes and churches of either church without condemnation or excommunication,” he said, describing the desired picture.

At the same time, Dudchenko insisted that such rapprochement would not mean the loss of Orthodox identity: “If we have communion with Catholics, we will not cease to be Orthodox.”

He sees only one obstacle to such unity – the absence of an agreement between the global church centers.

“For Ukraine, this becomes possible when Constantinople and Rome reach an agreement with each other. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine cannot independently proclaim unity with the Greek Catholic Church – that would be perceived as overstepping its authority. We are the youngest church in the diptychs, and this is not our prerogative,” he explained.

His UGCC interlocutor, Roman Ostrovskyi, stressed that he does not view such a scenario as a matter of the distant future.

“I think this is not such a distant eschatological future,” the archpriest said.

Moreover, he expressed hope that the new pope, Leo XIV, would move the process forward.

“With the current head of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV, there is hope that certain disagreements between him and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will gradually be overcome. The fact that they have already begun speaking more clearly about celebrating Pascha together gives me cautious optimism,” he concluded.

Earlier, the UOJ quoted Patriarch Bartholomew as saying that the Church of Constantinople and the Roman Catholic Church are moving toward the restoration of full unity.

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