“It is not normal for the Orthodox Church when there is virtually no monasticism,” - former OCU cleric

Andriy Shymanovych, a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who recently returned from the OCU, spoke about the main problems he saw during his stay in the structure of this organization. Among the aspects described by the priest, he drew attention to the fact that the existence of the OCU is built on enmity with the UOC, and no one is actually engaged in fulfilling the church’s premature goals. In addition, Shymanovych drew attention to the absence of monasticism in the OCU, which, in his opinion, is one of the determining factors of the true Church. He said this in a video posted on his Facebook page.

“What will you fight next when — God forbid, of course — the UOC is banned, or destroyed, or goes underground? Your identity is built on the fight against the UOC. You have no positive agenda. It is a constant struggle for the sake of struggle. Do you know how to preach Christ, the Gospel, tell people about God’s revelation, the meaning of God’s word, the history of the church? Will you do it? Or will you find another thief to direct your toxic arrows at? Therefore, you need to think about your negative self-identification, which has been built in the Kyiv Patriarchate (OCU — ed.) for many years against the UOC,” — the priest said.

In addition, priest Andriy Shymanovych added that over the past 5 years, not a single monastic tonsure has taken place in the higher educational institution of the OCU (KPBA), which indicates the reluctance of graduates of the OCU educational institutions to seriously connect their lives with this structure.

“As for the general situation in the OCU… There are wonderful people. Beautiful people. Priests. But the general situation… There are serious problems. When I say that there have been no monastic vows in the Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy for 5 years. This means that young people who graduate from seminaries and academies do not want to seriously connect their lives with this structure. This is not normal for the Orthodox Church when there is virtually no monasticism. This is a big problem,” — Shymanovych added.

Earlier, we reported that the priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Andrei Shimanovich, who joined the UOC-KP in July 2017, decided to return to the UOC. He was prompted to do so by the “difficult experience” of being in the structure of the OCU and “deep rational reflections.” One of the reasons why Shymanovich returned to the UOC is, according to him, “personal insults, humiliation, hand-waving, threats of physical violence.”