“I assume that the Tomos can be revoked” - OCU lobbyist Kovalev

The former press secretary of the head of the UOC-KP Filaret Denisenko, and now a well-known lobbyist for the OCU in the media and a cleric of this organization, Andriy Kovalev, said that the OCU risks losing the Tomos of autocephaly granted by Patriarch Bartholomew. Kovalev attributes this to the fact that the OCU does not fulfill all the conditions of this document, the ultimate goal of which, in his opinion, is to unite all Orthodox Ukrainians into one religious structure. He said this in an interview with the Espresso channel.

“Last year, at this time, the Local Council of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was held, which made changes, in particular, to the statute on the governance of the OCU. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew sent a letter to the leadership of the OCU with a request to announce this message at the Local Council and not to make certain changes to the statute, which, in the opinion of the patriarch, could threaten the unity of Orthodoxy in Ukraine. And this letter has just now been published in the press after the adoption of a law that some call a ban on the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, but I call it a law on limiting Russia’s influence on the religious sphere. I look at this law more broadly, because it concerns national security. That is, it is in the interests of Ukraine’s national security to disintegrate and deconstruct the remnants of the Russian Orthodox Church in our country,”- said Andriy Kovalev.

The OCU lobbyist said that the above-mentioned destructive actions of the OCU are negatively perceived by Phanar, and this may well threaten to revoke the Tomos of autocephaly of the OCU by Patriarch Bartholomew.

“The philosophy of this document is that the Tomos is a start for Ukraine and Orthodox Ukrainians. Unfortunately, some people perceive it as a finish, as a fait accompli. Therefore, this letter from Bartholomew is actually evidence of a very dangerous situation. We need to understand that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew granted the Tomos to Ukraine, but if the terms of the Tomos are not fulfilled or the spirit of the Tomos is violated, I assume that the Tomos can be revoked. And this can be a very strong blow and challenge for Ukraine. It is dangerous that the leadership of the OCU simply hid this letter from the fullness of the church. This letter was never read out at the Local Council of the OCU. In this letter, the Ecumenical Patriarch does not demand anything, but advises the Ukrainian Church to act in accordance with the spirit of the Tomos,” — Kovalev added.

Earlier, 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.