"Look at yourselves!": UOC-KP parries OCU's claims of "non-canonicity" of its hierarchs

The UOC-KP refuted the statement of the OCU Synod of April 3, 2026, calling it «outright disinformation.» The official statement emphasizes that the canonical status of the hierarchs of the UOC-KP cannot be considered within the OCU, since the Kyiv Patriarchate is not part of Epiphany Dumenko’s organization. At the same time, the UOC-KP drew attention to the fact that in the OCU itself, part of the «episcopate» that came from the UAOC has dubious ordinations.

According to the Public Relations Department of the UOC-KP, any decisions of the OCU structures concerning the hierarchs and clergy of the «Kyiv Patriarchate» are considered canonically null and void and not subject to execution. The statement emphasizes that the OCU does not have canonical jurisdiction over the territory of Ukraine and the structural parts of the UOC-KP.

Particular attention is paid to the issue of the legitimacy of the OCU hierarchy. Representatives of the UOC-KP point to the presence in the ranks of the OCU of «bishops» whose «ordination» dates back to Viktor (Vikenty) Chekalin, which, according to the authors, makes claims against the hierarchs of the «Kyiv Patriarchate» groundless. The text confirms the powers of «metropolitans» Ioasaf Shibaev, Filaret Panko, Danylo Monakh, Nikon Hrabliuk, Mykhailo Kovaluk, and Petro Moskalev, who remain the current hierarchs of the UOC-KP, contrary to the statements of their opponents.

To recap, a sharp conflict broke out between the OCU and the UOC-KP over the right to conduct the funeral rite for the deceased Filaret Denisenko. Representatives of the UOC-KP accused their opponents of «raiding» the body and violating the last will of the late head of the Kyiv Patriarchate, according to which he was to be buried in St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral in Kyiv.