Head of the Finnish Orthodox Church calls the UOC community in Turku a "threat to society"

Archbishop Elijah, who heads the Finnish Orthodox Church of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, expressed serious concern about the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) community in Turku. According to the hierarch, the existence of this parish, founded in 2023, poses a potential threat not only to the church structure but also to the security of the entire Finnish society as a whole.

According to the Finnish edition of Yle, Archbishop Elijah characterized the emergence of a new religious group as «uncontrolled activity» and «invasion of foreign territory.» The head of the church linked his fears to the possible «influence of Moscow» on internal processes in the country. It is worth noting that earlier the hierarch openly stated his regular contacts with representatives of the Finnish special services.

For their part, representatives of the UOC parish in Turku categorically deny these accusations. The rector of the community, priest Alexander Shevchenko, emphasized that the group’s activities fully comply with Finnish law and canonical norms. According to him, the parish unites several dozen believers, including Ukrainians, for whom it is fundamentally important to preserve the traditional worship in the Church Slavonic language and to observe the usual church calendar.

Despite the archbishop’s harsh statements, the Finnish media point to no evidence of destructive activity. According to available information, no Russian influence has been detected in the current work of the community. However, the situation around the parish in Turku continues to be the subject of heated public debate.

Earlier, we reported that the head of the OCU, Epiphany Dumenko , met with the Primate of the Finnish Orthodox Church of the Constantinople Patriarchate, Archbishop Ilia of Helsinki and All Finland.