"They are afraid of the ban": OCU cleric explains why UOC priests do not want to fall into schism

Andriy Dudchenko, who had previously moved from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the OCU, explained why, in his opinion, the priests of the UOC do not want to join their organization. In his opinion, the clergy of the canonical Church are afraid of a ban on ministry, which is usually imposed on clergy for falling into schism. He wrote about this in an article published in the Church and Society magazine, according to media reports.

“The clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate do not join the OCU because of a mystical fear of the “bans” imposed by the church authorities. Thus, Metropolitan Yevlogy in Sumy of the Moscow Patriarchate imposed a ban on priest Oleksandr Karpets, who transferred with the community, calling it a “betrayal of Orthodoxy” and “excommunicated” him from the Holy Communion for 25 years. While Father Oleksandr calmly accepts this reaction, other priests lack courage. They also hesitate to join because they are convinced by their leaders that their ordinations and consecrations are invalid,” – Dudchenko writes.

In addition, he added that the media misrepresent the situation with the seizure of churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by representatives of the OCU. Dudchenko argues that the media write mainly about negative situations, and no one mentions the “calm transitions” from the UOC to the OCU.

“Another reason is that the media resources of the Moscow Patriarchate are actively creating and promoting a negative image of the OCU, when more than a thousand peaceful transitions of communities are not noticed, and some where confrontations took place are presented as a trend,” – the ex-cleric of the UOC added.

As we reported earlier, over the period from 2022 to 2025, only three religious communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Kyiv were re-registered to the OCU. The low dynamics of transitions from the UOC to the OCU in the capital is observed despite the relevant decision of the Kyiv City Council to ban the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the city.