Religious scholar: It is a problem when priests do not support the decision of their faithful to join OCU

OCU lobbyist and freelance expert of the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience Andriy Smirnov said that the lack of support from the priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for the idea of transferring to the OCU has become a real problem for the implementation of the state plan to create a “single church.” Smirnov emphasized that most communities “move from the UOC to the OCU” without priests, which divides the religious community into two parts, thereby causing conflict situations. He spoke about this in an interview with the publication “Texty”.

“There is a problem when priests do not support the decision of their faithful to change the canonical subordination. This leads to a split in the community between supporters of the OCU and the UOC-MP. Most of the 1500 parishes were left without a priest. Then the OCU appoints a new rector. At the same time, the UOC-MP community, led by the former rector, continues to operate without state registration. If dioceses along with bishops were to join the OCU, we would indeed see a mass movement. Ordinary parish priests are afraid of bishops and do not want to act independently. Not a single bishop of the UOC-MP has joined the OCU in five and a half years,” – Smirnov said.

The religious scholar added that the priests and believers of the UOC do not want to move to the OCU because of the influence of Russian propaganda on them. He believes that the negative image of the OCU is created by the media that defend the interests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

“In addition, priests and believers do not join the OCU because of the prejudice that the OCU is graceless (i.e., without God’s grace, when belonging to such a church does not guarantee salvation after death, which is important for believers) and a schismatic structure. Despite the existence of the Tomos and the recognition of the church by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Moscow propaganda has been working for a very long time to create this image of the OCU. People believe in this “schism” and do not want to go there. There is still a negative image of the OCU, formed, in particular, by pro-Russian church or near-church media resources, such as the Union of Orthodox Journalists, First Cossack, or anonymous telegram channels,” – Smirnov added.

Earlier, religious scholar Yuriy Chornomorets, a supporter and lobbyist of the OCU in the media, proposed to deport Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy and Kaniv, the head of the Cherkasy Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to Russia. Chornomorets is convinced that the bishop destabilizes the internal situation in the country and is not worthy to live in Ukraine.