Dumenko: Negotiating with UOC on its terms would mean surrender for OCU
Epifaniy Dumenko. Photo: Screenshot from Ukrinform’s YouTube channel
OCU head Epifaniy Dumenko said that holding talks with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on its terms would amount to surrender for his organization, Ukrinform reports.
According to Dumenko, the UOC leadership is allegedly blocking all interchurch contacts by demanding that the OCU end the forcible seizures of churches, address the issue of its lack of canonical episcopal consecrations, and acknowledge the shortcomings of its “autocephaly.”
“They want the OCU to admit that it is not an autocephalous church, that ‘we are nobody, and only then will they consider whether to negotiate with us,’” Dumenko said. “We will not agree to such terms of surrender.”
Continuing to frame dialogue in terms of military confrontation, the OCU leader added that he expected “victory on the religious front” and described the process of establishing the OCU as irreversible.
As the UOJ previously reported, Dumenko said he saw no point in uniting with the UOC because its members were “collaborators who hate everything Ukrainian.”
Read also
Metropolitan Onuphry leads patronal feast at Kyiv’s Intercession Monastery
The UOC Primate ordained a priest and a deacon at St. Nicholas Cathedral of the Intercession Monastery.
OCU rep claims UOC parishes in Germany may threaten its national security
OCU cleric Petro Bokanov believes expansion of UOC structures in Germany is a threat to German national security.
UOC priests consecrate cardiology center wards in Uzhhorod
Priests of the Mukachevo Eparchy served a moleben for the health of doctors and patients of the cardiology center in Uzhhorod.
Metropolitan Onuphry explains how to live so as not to grieve Mother of God
The Primate of the UOC said in a sermon on the Protection feast at the Intercession Monastery that one must live by God's commandments even when they are inconvenient for the modern world.
Drone damages UOC church in Cherevkivka, Donetsk region
The Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov in the Sloviansk Deanery was damaged by a drone .
UOC-KP opens "metochion" in Georgia
"Patriarch" Nikodim of the UOC-KP reported the creation of a "metochion" in Georgia to strengthen spiritual ties outside Ukraine.