Hierarch of the UOC: Those who claim that they did not know what they voted for at the Council in Theophany are lying

Hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and rector of the Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary Archbishop Silvester (Stoychev) spoke about the details of the UOC Council held on May 27, 2022 at the Holy Pantheleimon Monastery of the UOC in Theophany. The bishop noted that the UOC bishops who took part in the Council were well aware of what exactly they were voting for. The Rector of KDAiS told about this in a comment to the cleric of the Odessa diocese of the UOC Archdeacon Andriy Palchuk on Facebook.

«We have the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but, in addition to this, there is another Council — the Council of Bishops of the UOC. On the day of the Council, two Councils took place in Theophany. The first is the Council of Bishops of the UOC, which is sometimes called the «Council of Bishops». And, after it, there was the Council of the UOC, which, in addition to the bishops, included representatives of the dioceses: clergy, monastics and laity. Accordingly, if we take the episcopate itself, those positions that were put forward at the Council of the UOC, the bishop voted twice: first during the Council of Bishops, and then these same issues were put to a vote for a wide range of participants. Thus, at the Council of the UOC, bishops again voted on an equal basis with all those who were participants in the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,» the hierarch noted.

Archbishop Silvester noted that those hierarchs of the UOC who now claim as if they did not know what exactly they were voting for at the Council are not telling the truth.

«Therefore, when someone says that he did not know, did not understand, the agenda was not obvious to him, it was not obvious to him — what the vote was about — this, in fact, does not correspond to reality. It was the bishops who voted twice: as participants in the Council of Bishops and literally, an hour and a half or two hours later, as participants in the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,» he added.

We will remind, earlier Metropolitan of Cherkassy and Kanev Theodosius (Snigiryov) said that the Council in Theophany in 2022, was held under pressure from intelligence services. The bishop noted that the hierarchs of the UOC were threatened by people «in shoulder straps» before participating in the council, demanding that they make «necessary decisions».