Metropolitan of Berlin: Decision on OCU made under pressure is void

Metropolitan Mark of Berlin and Germany. Photo: Collage of the UOJ in Germany

Metropolitan Mark of Berlin and Germany has stated that the decision to create the OCU, made under pressure, is legally invalid. The full text of the statement was published exclusively, with the hierarch's blessing, by the website of the UOJ in Germany.

According to the Metropolitan, "in law, the principle applies that decisions made under coercion are invalid. If, moreover, they prove to be erroneous in practice, there is all the more reason to revoke them."

The statement was prompted by reports of pressure exerted by the Ukrainian authorities on the Phanar delegation before the 2018 "Unification Council". 

The hierarch recalled that Petro Poroshenko appealed to Patriarch Bartholomew with a request to create an autocephalous church loyal to the government. The Tomos was granted to the structure created at the Council on December 15, 2018.

In the Metropolitan's opinion, the leadership of the Phanar allowed the political forces of the West to involve it in actions contrary to church law.

"The representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, including the Patriarch, should be extremely ashamed that it has now been publicly shown how, through their own fault, they allowed the political forces of the West to subjugate them and compel them to act contrary to conscience, church law and reason," the hierarch noted.

He described the OCU as a political construct and expressed hope that Patriarch Bartholomew will nevertheless reconsider his position.

As the UOJ reported, the Phanar head told Poroshenko in 2018 that Ukraine was not ready for autocephaly. The council in Kyiv took place on December 15, 2018, and Epifaniy (Dumenko) was elected head of the new structure. The Tomos was presented to him on January 5, 2019.

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