Recently, a former priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who fell into schism and joined the OCU, Georgy Kovalenko, said that the OCU is forced to open “chaplaincy missions” in the territories of other Local Churches. As an example, Kovalenko cited the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church, whose churches he called “Russian agitation points,” accusing the OCU of not recognizing the OCU in Poland.
Ukrainian media continue attempts to discredit UOC abroad
Top Ukrainian media outlets continue to try to discredit the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church abroad. This time, the editor-in-chief of the Glavkom website, Mykola Pidvezianyi, joined the harassment of the UOC, publishing a text on the pages of the publication in which he accused the UOC of carrying out a “large-scale special operation in Europe.” The text was published on the Glavkom website.
“For European states, all refugees with Ukrainian passports are the same. And even more so when they are believers or priests. Therefore, attention, sympathy, assistance… That is why the Moscow Church under the UOC brand is actively occupying the niche of the “Ukrainian Church” in Europe, where there are now millions of Ukrainians. It simply could not do this without the sanction of the Russian Orthodox Church,” – Pidvezianyi said.
Glavred added that while the UOC successfully interacts with Ukrainian refugees in Europe, the OCU is simply observing what is happening, as it cannot, according to the provisions of the Tomos, officially engage in activities abroad.
“The OCU is just watching. The Tomos prohibits going beyond the borders of the state of Ukraine… Abroad is the jurisdiction of Constantinople. Patriarch Filaret knew why he grumbled about the Tomos. “And when Ukrainian organizations try to convey this hybrid threat to local authorities, they say: “No, no, we don’t understand this, we either help everyone or no one,” – the editor-in-chief of Glavkom is indignant.
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