UGCC Called on OCU to Leave the West to Them and Focus on Eastern Ukraine
Uniates and representatives of the OCU argued online over Dumenko's visit to Lviv.
Representative of the UGCC Yuriy Boyko made a statement about dividing territorial influence with the OCU in western Ukraine. He wrote about this on his Facebook.
Boyko holds the position of assistant to the hierarch for monastic affairs at the Lviv Archeparchy of the UGCC. In his post, he stated that recent events in Lviv prompted him to ask a "sincere question" about where the church should be heading. According to him, too much attention is being paid to western Ukraine, "where church and national life already has strong Ukrainian roots." Instead, Boyko argues, the OCU's mission should be to serve in the east and south of the country. He believes that a church becomes "great not when it occupies already developed space, but when it goes where its ministry is truly needed most."
The statement provoked a sharp reaction from representatives of Epifaniy Dumenko's structure. "Archbishop" Volodymyr (Shlapak), administrator of the Zhytomyr-Polissia Eparchy of the OCU, wrote in the comments that Boyko "speaks on behalf of the UGCC about the loss of its electorate" due to the OCU head's visit to western Ukraine.
He also told UGCC representatives: "Do not appropriate the history of our Ukrainian Church, from which we emerged, and do not tell us which territories are canonical." Other Uniates accused OCU members of seeking to "take everything ready-made rather than build something themselves," while one user reminded them that "Ukraine is the ancient territory of the Patriarchate of Constantinople — there is no place here for adherents of Rome!"
As the UOJ reported, experts warned that western Ukraine could turn into the Balkans in religious terms.
