Greek hierarch pained as UOC faces schism ordeal

Metropolitan Nektarios of Kerkyra says Church of Ukraine suffers from schisms dividing people, urges prayer for end of wars.

Metropolitan Nektarios of Kerkyra, Paxoi and the Diapontian Islands said he grieves over the trials experienced by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He said this on October 31, 2026, after the consecration on Corfu of a church in honor of the Venerable Fathers of the Kyiv Caves, attended by UOC bishops.

«Our heart is especially pained – as the heart of the Orthodox people, and also mine, the humble bishop of Corfu – because the sister Church of Ukraine is undergoing particular trials from internal enemies, I would say, from temptation, from the devil, unfortunately – through schisms and disagreements of clergy and bishops that divide the people,» – the hierarch said.

Speaking about the war, the metropolitan noted that armed confrontation between Orthodox peoples is «not from God, but from temptation».
«We sincerely pray to the Lord God, and also at the holy relics of St. Spyridon the Wonderworker, that all wars on earth would cease and come to an end,» – he said.

Earlier, the UJO reported that hierarchs of the UOC and the Church of Greece consecrated a church of the Kyiv Caves saints on Corfu.