The split in the UOC-KP: Andrei Marutsak announces "canonical coup" and non-recognition of new "patriarch"

The former administrator of the UOC-KP, Andriy Marutsak, has officially announced a «canonical rebellion» within the structure and refused to recognize the legitimacy of the newly elected leadership. According to him, the group of hierarchs grossly violated the church charter and ignored the last will of the deceased head of the organization, he wrote on his Facebook page.

Marutsak claims that Filaret Denisenko repeatedly instructed him to convene the Holy Synod immediately on the day of his death to elect a locum tenens in 2025. However, when they tried to hold a meeting, a group of bishops blocked the work of the Synod, arbitrarily proclaiming the beginning of the «Bishops’ Council» for immediate voting for the candidacy of the new head.

Andriy Marutsak emphasized that the actions of his opponents contradict the UOC-KP’s charter, according to which during the period of inter-patriarchy the organization should be governed by a Synod chaired by the locum tenens, and the right to elect a new leader belongs exclusively to the Local Council, not to a closed group of bishops. The hierarch qualified what happened as «conspiracy and rebellion,» referring to Canon 18 of the IV Ecumenical Council, which provides for defrocking for such actions.

In this regard, Marutsak declared that he did not recognize the status of Nikodim, who was declared the new head of the UOC-KP, and called all the decrees he issued «canonically insignificant.» This also applies to the order to dismiss Marutsak himself from the post of administrator. At the end of his address, he called on his opponents to return to the legal field, warning that only a legitimately elected leader will have weight in the Orthodox world, and that current events are evidence of a «deep spiritual crisis» of the coup initiators.

As a reminder, on March 27 and 29, 2026 , new hierarchs of the UOC-KP were appointed in Sumy. The events, led by the new head of the organization, Nikodim Kobzar, were held at the Epiphany Cathedral of the Sumy Diocese of the UOC-KP. In addition, earlier the organization also appointed permanent members of the Synod of the UOC-KP.