UOC hierarch on relations with the OCU: "There is no official dialog between us"

The hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and rector of the Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary, Archbishop Sylvester (Stoichev), spoke about the relations between the UOC and the OCU. The bishop emphasized the complete absence of an official dialogue, which is due to the violence and aggressive policy of Ukrainian schismatics towards the canonical Church. He said this in an interview with the Serbian edition of VREME.

«There is no official dialog between us. In some cases, there is informal communication. The main problem that burdens our relations is religious violence. Since the creation of the OCU, and especially after the beginning of the full-scale Russian military aggression, we have witnessed numerous cases of violent seizure of churches of our Church, in which representatives of the OCU were directly involved,» says Archbishop Sylvester of the UOC.

The bishop added that the leadership of the OCU did not give a proper assessment of these events, and not a single cleric of the OCU who was directly involved in the violence was subject to canonical sanctions. «All of this seriously burdens our relations and makes official dialogue almost impossible,» he said.

Earlier, we reported that Archbishop Sylvester (Stoichev) commented on the future development of relations between the UOC and the Russian Orthodox Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople. According to the hierarch, the Ukrainian Church will never return to the Russian Orthodox Church, but, in his opinion, the UOC needs to develop relations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople.