Expert of the State Ethnic Policy Service confirms that transfers to OCU create a split in communities

OCU lobbyist and freelance expert of the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience Andriy Smirnov said that the so-called transitions of religious communities of the UOC to the OCU often create a split between people in a particular locality. Smirnov believes that this factor is mostly responsible for the fact that the change of confessional affiliation is not as active as the state would like. He spoke about this in an interview with the publication Texty.

«Priests are afraid of the split of their community. They see a confrontation between supporters of the OCU and the UOC-MP. Therefore, as long as a priest serves within the UOC-MP, the community is more or less united, as soon as he supports the majority or minority that is in favor of joining the OCU, the community may split. Church rectors want this choice to be unanimous, but this is impossible. Therefore, they expect church-wide decisions,» Smirnov said.

Earlier, a well-known lobbyist of the OCU in the media, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor of the Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Lyudmila Filipovich believes that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is losing popularity in Ukrainian society. The religious scholar is convinced that this is evidenced by the recent events related to the seizure of the Archangel Michael Cathedral of the Cherkasy Diocese of the UOC and the results of a new sociological study by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, according to which the majority of Ukrainians allegedly support the OCU.