Forensic examination finds no signs of incitement to hatred in OCU head's statements against Metropolitan Theodosius

Forensic linguist Vadym Zhuravel has concluded that the public accusations of the head of the OCU Epiphany Dumenko against Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy and Kaniv (UOC) «are subjective value judgments, not slander.» This expert opinion was prepared as part of a lawsuit for the protection of honor and dignity filed by the hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church against the head of the OCU.

According to the Dozor Telegram channel, the subject of the linguistic analysis was Epifaniy’s interview with the 1+1 TV channel. During the interview, the head of the OCU accused Metropolitan Theodosius of «openly preaching hostile ideology» and acting in the interests of the Russian Federation. Expert Vadym Zhuravel characterized these statements as a «personal vision» of the speaker, noting that the wording does not contain direct grammatical or lexical confirmation of conscious cooperation with another state and does not have signs of unreliability due to its evaluative nature.

The publication emphasizes the contrast in the approaches of the judicial system: in the criminal case against Metropolitan Theodosius himself, experts previously saw «incitement to hatred» in his sermon in support of the nuns of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Monastery. At the same time, it is noted that the bishop’s wording was much milder than that of the head of the OCU. Earlier in the process, the court had already imposed a fine on the psycholinguistic expert involved.

As a reminder, the lawsuit against Epiphany Dumenko is being considered by the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv. The reason for going to court was statements made on the Internet in August 2025, which the defense of Metropolitan Theodosius considers defamatory.