OCU is not recognized because it did not unite Ukrainian Orthodoxy, - religious expert

Serhiy Shumylo, director of the International Institute of Athos Heritage, religious scholar and lobbyist for the OCU, acknowledged that the process of recognizing the OCU by the Local Orthodox Churches has actually stopped. The reason for this is the failure to fulfill the main task that was initially assigned to the OCU, namely, the unification of Ukrainian Orthodoxy. He spoke about this in an interview with Radio Liberty.

“The biggest problem in this matter is the continued division of Ukrainian Orthodoxy. That is, if Ukrainian Orthodoxy managed to unite into a more or less unified local church, then this issue would be resolved very quickly. In general, the church environment is very conservative and very amorphous, where decisions are not made very quickly. Many people are watching how events in Ukraine will continue to develop, not only on the frontline, but also internally in the relations between the two Orthodox churches in Ukraine. And it is very important that these relations develop through the perception of the Gospel truths, and not through any kind of politicization of the process. And God forbid that we come to a forceful resolution of relations, because this is contrary to the principles of the Gospel. And on the other hand, of course, there are subjective factors, such as Moscow’s influence, which is trying to disrupt, to influence in order to prevent things from happening in a way that is beneficial to them. And this is also superimposed,” — Shumylo says.

It should be noted that earlier the hierarch of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan John of Krushevka and Demirhisar, spoke about the attitude of the Macedonian Church to the OCU. The bishop is convinced that the main problem in recognizing the OCU is the lack of apostolic succession.