Epiphany Dumenko stated that the OCU has a “significant numerical advantage” over the UOC

Epiphany Dumenko, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), presented a report stating that the number of supporters of the organization he leads is more than 11 times greater than the number of believers in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). This is stated in a report published at on the OCU’s website.

Epiphany’s statements are based on data from a sociological survey conducted last year by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. The statistics indicate that 50% of respondents identify themselves as members of the OCU, while only 4% of those surveyed reportedly identify themselves as members of the UOC.

In his report, Dumenko emphasized that the OCU retains its status as Ukraine’s largest religious organization. In addition, the head of the OCU described the current situation of the UOC as “abnormal,” having previously called for the consolidation of those who remain loyal to the hierarchy, which he refers to as associated with the “bloody patriarch.”

It is worth noting that the aforementioned poll results completely ignore a recent report by the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, which, in particular, states that despite various forms of pressure, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, with nearly 10,000 parishes, remains the largest religious organization in Ukraine.