Phanar archon publishes fake associating convicted OCU "bishop" with UOC

The archon and Patriarch Bartholomew. Photo: bartholomew.foundation

Miceál O’Hurley, an archon of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, published an article on the European Diplomat portal titled “Pro-Russian Ukrainian Orthodox Church Opts to Retain Russian Ties”, in which he accused the UOC of a scheme organized by an OCU "bishop". The author later deleted this passage from the text, claiming it was an error, but screenshots of it remain.

To support the thesis of the UOC’s "pro-Russian orientation", O’Hurley cited the case of Kyrylo Mykhailiuk, head of the OCU’s Uzhhorod-Khust Eparchy. The archon presented him as a "UOC-MP" bishop.

"Bishop Mykhailiuk issued fake ordination certificates and deacon’s IDs to UOC-MP believers who were subject to military service. The purpose of this scheme was to help men avoid mobilization to defend Ukraine from Russian invaders and occupiers”, the deleted passage of the archon’s article said.

The author also claimed that in the course of the court proceedings it "was proven" that Mykhailiuk posted reports of "ordinations" on the eparchy’s website retroactively, "using the authority of the UOC-MP".

In reality, Kyrylo Mykhailiuk is an OCU "bishop". According to the investigation, from June 2023 to November 2025 he sold fictitious documents on ordination to the rank of deacon to 291 men liable for military service at a price of $1,000 to $2,000.

The distortion of facts in O’Hurley’s text is not limited to this episode. Thus, the archon claims that Metropolitan Onuphry "refused to comply with the order and... officially withdraw from the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church", although the Primate of the UOC reported that he did not participate in the work of the ROC Synod as early as in a letter to the DESS head in June 2022.

The author also writes that, "according to Yelensky", Metropolitan Onuphry called the order a demand to "betray Christ". In reality, the DESS head never attributed these words to the Primate of the UOC.

O’Hurley’s assertion that Metropolitan Onuphry and the UOC rejected the DESS’s demands, "seeking instead to maintain their relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church", is also a fake: His Beatitude never made such statements.

In addition, O’Hurley writes that the conclusions about the UOC’s ties with the ROC were allegedly drawn by "Ukrainian investigators". In fact, the so-called "study" was conducted by DESS employees.

It should be noted that O’Hurley himself is not a neutral observer. According to a publication by the Foundation of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, he converted to Orthodoxy at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral in Kyiv, that is, he was baptized in the UOC-KP.

The head of the OCU, Epifaniy Dumenko, awarded him the Order "For Freedom". In 2025, O’Hurley became an archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. He is currently serving as secretary of the Phanar’s Irish Metropolis.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that another archon of Constantinople, Elias Damianakis, in a critical article about Bishop Theodosiy of Cherkasy, called him the “Metropolitan of Kherson”.

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