Met. Theodosiy: Patriarch Bartholomew’s decision led to persecution of UOC

Patriarch Bartholomew with Zelensky. Photo: UNN

Metropolitan Theodosiy of Cherkasy and Kaniv, in an interview with the Greek news agency Romfea, said Patriarch Bartholomew’s decision to create the OCU was one of the causes of the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

According to Metropolitan Theodosiy, when speaking about today’s canonical crisis in world Orthodoxy and the persecution into which the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been plunged, “there is no doubt that all of this was brought about by the shortsighted and self-confident decision made at the Phanar in 2018.”

The UOC hierarch pointed to the Ecumenical Patriarch’s personal responsibility for the tragic developments in Ukraine. “By deciding to create the ‘Orthodox Church of Ukraine,’ Patriarch Bartholomew created a deeply problematic situation,” Metropolitan Theodosiy recalled. “That step was followed by a severe escalation – mass seizures of churches, beatings of believers, court proceedings against clergy, and an attempt to eliminate the Ukrainian Orthodox Church itself.”

The Cherkasy hierarch recalled that the Phanar ignored the will of the majority of Orthodox believers in Ukraine. “At the time, members of the UOC Holy Synod, as well as a large delegation of our Church’s faithful and clergy, traveled to the Phanar and presented Patriarch Bartholomew with hundreds of thousands of signatures asking him not to establish a new jurisdiction in Ukraine, especially one with such a background. Nevertheless, the decision was made,” the bishop said.

According to Metropolitan Theodosiy, the actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople violate Christian canons and offend the religious sensibilities of believers around the world. The Phanar’s decision legitimized schismatics without repentance or canonical ordinations. “Yesterday’s schismatics, without repentance and without lawful ordinations, suddenly replaced the legitimate canonical Church across an entire Orthodox country – Ukraine – with a single stroke of the pen at the Phanar,” Metropolitan Theodosiy stressed.

As the UOJ reported, Patriarch Bartholomew had claimed that 30 UOC hierarchs would join the OCU.

Read also