OCU calls for dialogue with UOC under pressure from OP and Phanar, - Cyril Hovorun

The defrocked former cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill Govorun, said that the OCU is not ready for a real dialogue with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Govorun noted that the recent appeal of the head of the OCU Epiphany Dumenko to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church calling for the beginning of a dialogue “without conditions” is actually formal and was made under pressure from the Office of the President of Ukraine and the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Hovorun shared this information on the air of Radio NV.

“Both churches are in a certain comfort zone for themselves. The comfort zone of the OCU is the only patriotic church and it does not need other partners. Therefore, on the one hand, some formal statements are made by the OCU regarding the dialogue — by the way, these statements were made under pressure from Constantinople — by those of our partners who want a real rapprochement between the two churches. The comfort zone of the UOC is that they talk about persecution without having any real persecution. That is, they have all the fruits of a persecuted church, but no persecution. And this is really comfortable,” — said the former archimandrite.

Hovorun added that at this stage there can be no talk of uniting the UOC and the OCU. He believes that it is necessary to try to find an opportunity to at least start at least some kind of dialogue, which is now being actively pursued by the Ukrainian Presidential Office and Phanar.

“We are not even talking about any kind of unification or accession now. In fact, we have moved very far away from this compared to 2018, when the possibility of forming a single local church in Ukraine did exist, but it was lost. Now we are talking about at least some understanding. I see two such factors that are interested in bringing the two Ukrainian churches closer together and are not related to these churches themselves. This is the Ukrainian state, the Office of the President. And it is the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In fact, we see the synchronization of their actions. We see President Zelensky’s visit to Phanar and his communication with Patriarch Bartholomew. We see the arrival of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s delegation immediately afterwards. Between these two events, Elena Kovalska and Viktor Yelenskyy visited Phanar (together with representatives of the OCU — ed.). Immediately after that, a statement was made by the OCU about the beginning of a dialogue. I think it was precisely under pressure from both the Ukrainian state and the Ecumenical Patriarchate. And the law, which encourages the two Ukrainian churches to get closer,” — he added.