Dumenko: UOC provokes communities into seizing their own churches
The OCU head claimed that UOC communities allegedly try to “seize their own churches” during jurisdictional transfers, dismissing believers’ resistance as a provocation orchestrated by Moscow.
OCU head Serhiy Dumenko, in an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, accused the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of staging provocations during the so-called transfers of parishes to his organization. According to Dumenko, believers deliberately resist the handover of churches to create the impression that the transfers are being carried out by force.
“We see provocations coming from the Russian Church. They do this deliberately to make it appear as though the process is being forced. But that is not true, because the majority of the community makes the decision to change jurisdiction,” Dumenko said. When the journalist asked whether there was really no pressure involved, he replied, “There is no pressure.”
The OCU head then sought to ridicule the position of UOC believers: “They claim that a seizure is taking place, but it is the community that makes the decision. So it turns out that their own community, which belonged to the Moscow Patriarchate, is trying to – what? Seize its own church? Well, that seems a little strange.”
As the UOJ previously reported, Dumenko earlier described UOC believers as enemies who merely disguise themselves as Ukrainians.
