OCU comments on information about threat to revoke Tomos

The OCU commented on the information of the organization’s cleric Andriy Kovalev about the threat of revoking the Tomos due to the fact that the structure does not comply with the terms of this document and ignores Phanar’s calls for unification with the UOC. The head of the Kherson Diocese of the OCU, Nikodim Kulygin, considers this information to be an exaggeration. He said this in a commentary on the Espresso TV channel.

“When the dear Mr. Andriy writes that they allegedly ignored the letter of the Ecumenical Patriarch, this is absolutely not true. On the contrary, we found this opportunity, even though it was late, because the letter was received after the official part of the Local Council was closed (Kovalev said that at the Council the OCU ignored a letter from Bartholomew, in which he called for doing everything possible to start a dialogue with the UOC — ed.) The next part of the program was lunch. People had participated in the Council in the morning and, of course, had to eat afterwards. Therefore, this letter was read out over lunch, after which a proposal was made to vote. There were no objections from the participants of the Council. Everyone voted, including me. Therefore, it is very strange for me to hear that some kind of treason was found out of nothing. I understand that today people are nervous and are looking for treason where there is none. That’s why I propose that despite what is happening, we should follow Kherson’s example and be more optimistic,” — Kulygin said.

As reported, the former press secretary of the head of the UOC-KP Filaret Denisenko, and now a well-known lobbyist of 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.